The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1
by Vader23A
Summary: Gryphus 1 is the hero of Aurelia and feared as Nemesis by his enemies. When Diego Navarro looks to exact revenge, Gryphus Squadron and AWACS Crux are sent to another universe, one totally different from theirs. There, they will face a new threat and gain allies. Can Gryphus 1 overcome his own personal demons?
1. Prologue

Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

March 1, 2021, Griswall, capital of the Federal Republic of Aurelia.

A lone pilot walks along the sidewalk of the Aurelian capital.

He was 19 years old, stood at 5'10, had short black hair, fair skin tone, intense blue-gray eyes and athletic build. He wore navy blue jeans secured by a belt, short-sleeved white shirt, a charcoal gray jacket with the Aurelian Air Force logo on it and black shoes with blue trimming.

His name is Kyle Masterson a.k.a. Gryphus 1, the hero of Aurelia. Last year, he took part in a conflict that would've been the end of the country had it not been for his actions.

Due to its unique geography, Aurelia is an interesting country.

Located in South Osea and the southernmost country of the Osean continent, Aurelia is connected to a peninsular territory connected by its neighbor Leasath and northern lands of mainland Osea. It's divided into three major states: North Puna, which has northwestern Aurelia, Lenal County, which spans most of the eastern, central and northern territory and two unnamed states, one covering the lands of North Puna and a second one further south spanning the southern tip of the country. Aurelia is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Aurelian Sea to the east.

The western, northeastern and southern coasts are mountainous while the rest of the country is mostly made up of plains. Much of Aurelia has an arctic climate due to elevation but it changes in different directions becoming temperate in the isthmus, semi-arid in the center of the nation and subarctic in the southwest, extending to arctic in the austral areas south of the mainland. Because it is one of the closest countries to Antarctica and the Antarctic Circle, it controls several oil fields of the island chain of Terminus Island which is vital to Aurelia's economy. What's intriguing about the Southern Hemisphere is that its seasons run backwards.

In October 2020, Aurelia's neighbor Leasath invaded the country, capturing 95% of territory in just the span of ten days thanks to the assaults from Leasath's Gleipnir, a massive airborne fortress capable of sneaking into territory with its Optical Camouflage System and using Shockwave Ballistic Missiles (SWBM) for multi-range attacks, a Shock Cannon on its belly to destroy any ground or sea targets and conventional ordnance to defend itself. With this unique arsenal at its disposal, Aurelia couldn't mount a counterattack. Leasath eventually took over Griswall and used Gaiuss Tower, the tallest building in Aurelia as their headquarters. Ironically it was also a symbol of peace to Aurelia.

The air base stationed at Cape Aubrey was the only thing not under Leasath control so a squad of B-52 bombers were sent to take care of it. Gryphus Squadron was able to shoot down the bombers and the air base survived but their victory was short-lived because the Gleipnir deactivated its Optical Camouflage to launch an SWBM from the Puna Plains. The warning came too late and Gryphus Squadron was wiped out with Gryphus 1 and 2 being the only survivors the latter's plane was severely damaged but still flyable. The images of the squadron's destruction were displayed to the citizens of Cape Aubrey and some news articles claimed resistance was futile as the last of Aurelian soldiers surrendered. However, one pilot wasn't going to let this go unanswered.

Following the near-take over of his home country, Kyle was seething with rage. In the wake of his squadron's demise he swore to exact revenge on the man who had orchastrated this invasion, Leasath's commanding officer Diego Gaspar Navarro. But Kyle needed to drive the Leasath invaders out of Aurelia.

The first step was capturing a base at the Puna Plains, destroying B-52 bombers and C-5 transports stationed there and the headquarters. The mission was a success and Aurelia used it as a resupply base for the next phase. He went on to retake Port Patterson, sinking cargo ships en route and destroyers escorting them. With this phase complete, Gryphus Squadron moved to retake Santa Elva as part of their mission to liberate Griswall.

The Davis Unit, an Aurelian special force unit was stranded at Stand Canyon after being cut off from the main force while heading for Santa Elva. Despite being under the constant barrage of SWBMs, Gryphus 1 rescued the Davis Unit. The downside is that this allowed the Miller Unit to capture Port Patterson. Angered by this move, Gryphus 1 turned around to retake Port Patterson taking out the Miller Unit without damaging the fuel complex they were using to shield themselves. After destroying most of the unit, the 3rd Artillery Devision entered the city. However, they weren't ready and fell to Gryphus 1's wrath.

He next received word that shipments of supplies were heading for Santa Elva via Kingshill, no doubt intending to replenish the ammunition the Gleipnir used on him at Stand Canyon. Upon arriving at Kingshill, Gryphus 1 discovered there were decoys among the formation the real transports were flying at lower altitude because the payload exceeded the Maximum Takeoff Weight. The decoys made it to Santa Elva but not the real targets.

Santa Elva came at last and using his very sharp eyesight, Gryphus 1 was able to make out the shape of the Gleipnir even with it cloaked. Shooting his F-22's gun, he was able to damage the Optical Camouflage System enough to render it useless. Next came the destruction of the SWBM, conventional weaponry and the Shock Cannon when the captain of the airborne fortress intended to use it on the city. The Gleipnir crashed into a river and exploded. Gryphus 1's actions spur the Aurelian troops to rejoin the fight and made him be feared by Leasath, earning the title "Nemesis".

Days later, Griswall was liberated after the destruction of the Mason Cannon guarding the Gaiuss Tower. Soldiers joined the celebrating citizens yet Diego Navarro escaped, heading for the Danern Straits.

During the closing days of the war, the reason behind the war became clear. Aurelia was Leasath's largest benefactor of aid, especially after the bloody civil war it experienced in 2019. However Diego Navarro twisted the truth, calling it "years of exploitation". He used the Aurelian War to amass enormous sums of money to fund development of a secret stealth Leasath fighter named Fenrir. The Aurelian Air Force mobilized to destroy Fenrir and its research facilities on Sentry Island now called Archelon Fortress before Navarro could complete it. There were two routes to the island.

A group of Leasath ace pilots known as the Alect Squadron were heading for Archelon Fortress through the Danern Straits and a new weapon being developed at Cobalt Cave. Gryphus 1 realized that both posed a serious threat but he could only choose one. He decided to head for the Cobalt Cave to stop development of the new weapon, sinking the cargo ships and destroying the research facilities there. A Leasath scientist taken into custody by the Aurelian Navy SEALs revealed that the cargo was a High Powered Microwave weapon that was to be mounted onto Fenrir.

A Leasath naval fleet was making its way toward Archelon Fortress and was annihilated by the joint efforts of Gryphus and Falco Squadron.

Arriving at the fortress they were greeted by the Alect Squadron piloting the fully functional Fenrir, they provided a tough challenge with their Optical Camouflage and reflexes. However, the tide of battle turned when an amphibious unit captured an electrical transmitter and opened the gates for Gryphus 1 to destroy it. With their power supply destroyed, Fenrir was now exposed and quickly fell victim to Gryphus 1. The amphibious unit continued on to explore the fortress and discovered a fifth Fenrir taking off before they could stop it. Flying through the fortress's front gate, Gryphus 1 destroyed Fenrir as Archelon Fortress began to collapse due to C-4 charges. The unit was able to recover a Fenrir prototype as they left.

Upon conclusion of the war, Diego Navarro fled Leasath and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Prior to returning to Cape Aubrey, Kyle was interviewed by Albert Genette, the journalist sent to cover the war. He told Genette his thoughts on the war and how he passionately hated hot weather.

Breaking out of his reminiscing Kyle sits on a bench in a park. A mother passes by with her daughter.

The girl said, "Look Mom, it's Kyle Masterson!" She waves at the country's hero with a smile, her mother giggles at her child's bubbly behavior.

Kyle waves back and they approached with the girl showing him her Santa figure.

Good O' Saint Nick stood on a surf board wearing red trunks, sunglasses, his hat and bag in one hand while extending the other as he rode the small wave attached to it. The figure also bore the emblem of the Southern Cross, the other nickname Kyle gained. The emblem was the form of a cartoon bird holding two constellations connected in the form of a cross.

The girl beamed, "Look, Kyle! I got this Santa figure as a Christmas present last year and it even bears your squad emblem!"

Kyle smiled, "That's nice, little one."

The energetic youngster asked, "I'm a big fan of yours so is my Dad! We are grateful for you liberating Griswall. Will you be there to protect us?"

Kyle nodded, "Of course. Aurelia's my home!" The mother tells her child they have to go and the girl waves good-bye to the Aurelian pilot.

'Navarro, where are you hiding?' Kyle venomously.

Footsteps bring his attention from gazing at the sky.

In front of him was a young man around 17 years old, stood at 5'8, hazel eyes, moderate skin tone, shoulder-length brown hair and lean build. He wore charcoal gray jeans secured by a belt, white shirt covered by a black jacket with the manufacturer company logo on it and red shoes with blue-white stripes. His name is Alex Irvine, Kyle's wingman.

Kyle asked, "Yes, Alex what is it?"

Alex rubbed his neck sheepishly, "I know you're enjoying your alone time but I got word from Eugene that we received a mission from HQ. They didn't give him any details but it sounds pretty urgent."

Kyle stood up, "Well, let's get moving."

Alex nodded, "Right!" They head for Cape Aubrey, a peninsula in southwestern Aurelia.

Entering the briefing room, they are greeted by some of its staff and their AWACS, Eugene Solano.

Eugene is a young man who turned 20 earlier this year, stood at 5'6, maybe 5'7, gray eyes, short black hair and a toned figure. He was having weight problems when he transferred to Cape Aubrey but thanks to diet and exercise, he was able to slim down. His attire was tan pants and button up shirt of the military.

They all take a seat.

The base commander, "Thank you for coming, men. I know I'm ruining your post-war vacation but HQ has received an emergency transmission from Intelligence. It seems Diego Navarro has decided to come out of hiding to avenge his defeat you guys delivered last year. He's been amassing an enormous air force with soldiers still loyal to him and are preparing to strike Aurelia. We need you to attack them. His air armada is making its way through the Pacific Ocean, we believe their target is Port Patterson. Judging by the speed and time needed for mid-air refueling, we calculated the armada will reach Port Patterson within 72 hours." Kyle's eyes turn deadly at the mentioning of his eluded prey's name. Well, one of two. His other target was staying under the radar for the time being.

Alex asked, "How was he able to build such a massive strike force being miles away from his homeland?"

The base commander replied, "The country he fled to had a massive naval force with enough aircraft carriers to launch an invasion. Our satellite detected the aircraft taking off from their carriers, the exact layout of the enemy formation is unknown but I do know you will be entering a nasty dogfight with a man hellbent on revenge. To sort of even the odds, Falco and Aquila Squadron will be joining you in this battle. Make sure Navarro's plan ends in failure like you did last year. Dismissed." The assembled pilots head off to the changing room.

Kyle changes into his special g-suit. It was colored black, had gray armored plating around the torso, arms and legs, made of titanium melted down and reforged in a repeated cycle that ended with a highly durable armor plating that surpasses tank armor and keep corrosion resistance. The suit itself was made of thick fibers designed to be tough and withstand punishment brought on by fire or decay over time.

The plating on the arms were modified into wrist gauntlets for combat. The right plating houses twin razor-sharp, serrated wrist blades mounted in parallel and forged out of titanium and depleted uranium that can easily cut through wood, ice, skin, muscle and bone. The left one was a miniature computer that controlled the cloaking device, rendering the user invisible to all normal means of detection such as thermal, night or regular vision. However the cloaking shorts out when exposed to EMP or submerged in water. The device can be re-engaged once the effect wears off or when the wearer removes himself from the water. The computer also controlled multiple visions for the user. The four visions include enhanced normal vision, thermal for tracing heat signatures, night vision for pitch blackness and modified x-ray vision that picks up the heartbeat of cloaked people or to see behind walls. The drawback is that the suit weighs 168 pounds, however a well-conditioned person can compensate for this.

The helmet was a lighter shade of black and had a demonic design straight out of a horror movie with the dark visor wedged in the demon's jaws and can withstand gunfire ranging from pistols to RPGs. Its overall design was intent on making the enemies shit their pants.

Kyle tests the wrist blades to make sure they're working right. The blades' maximum length was 18 inches but he preferably kept the length at 10 inches and 6 inches wide. He grabs a twin-bladed glaive with the blades retracting into the base of the hilt and extend with a squeeze of the hand and his trusty M9A1 Beretta pistol. Kyle places the gun in its holster and the glaive in a sheath mounted on his right thigh.

Alex said, "Are you ready to go, Captain? I want to repel this invasion force and head back to Aurelia for my vacation."

Kyle nodded, "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's get moving, Alex." He puts his helmet on and they head for their fighters.

Kyle moves his F-22 Raptor into takeoff position on the runway, doing a systems check while waiting clearance for takeoff.

The control tower operator said, "Gryphus 1, you are cleared for takeoff."

Kyle responded, "Roger, tower. Gryphus 1, taking off!" He pushes the throttle to afterburners, the stealth fighter picks up speed as it rolls down the runway and Gryphus 1 pulls the joystick toward him to get the jet in the air and retracts the landing gear. Gryphus 2 takes off, followed by Falco and Aquila Squadron.

3 days later and couple of mid-air refueling, the Aurelia fighter squads spot the silhouettes of the enemy.

Alex gasped, "Good god!"

Kyle commanded, "Gryphus 1 here. We have found the enemy formation."

Crux said, "This is Crux, I'm picking them up on radar. The formation was composed 40 fighters and 20 bombers. The bombers are not showing up, however."

Gryphus 1 explained, "Must be using stealth bombers, most likely F-117s."

Their AWACS ordered, "Crux to Gryphus 1, you are free to engage the enemy. Shoot down as many enemy aircraft as you can then go after the stragglers." The Aurelia pilots attach their air masks to the helmet.

Gryphus 1 leads the charge, switches to XLAAM.

Gaining four locks he fires the missiles scream through the air and destroy the targets, turning them into fireballs that alerted the rest.

A pair of Su-37s break away from the formation to go after Gryphus 1.

Hearing the missile warning Gryphus 1 pulls a hard right turn that shakes off the missile and gets behind the enemy fighters, he gains a lock then fires two standard missiles. The lock on alert doesn't the young pilot who turns left to avoid rounds from the MiG-21's cannon. The rounds keep coming but Gryphus 1 performs a barrel roll so that they fly past the F-22 without leaving a scratch on its frame.

The enemy wondered, "Who is this guy?"

His wingman gasped, "That's Nemesis!"

The first enemy pilot grinned, "This must be our lucky day! If we can shoot him down, not only will our boss give us a medal he'll build a statue in our honor." He gains a missile lock and fires the missiles follow the Raptor's IR signature, the heat generated by the engines.

The stealth fighter's maneuverability proves too much for the heat-seeking missile as the projectile spins around before exploding. Gryphus 1 dives to the right and executes a hard left turn, his armored g-suit countering the force of the turn.

The third enemy pilot said, "He avoided my missile! What's he got? Eyes in the back of his head?" 20 enemy fighters gang up on the hero of Aurelia however their superior numbers proved useless as Gryphus 1 lives up to his nickname and downs each one with lethal precision. He gets behind the MiG-21 that shot the heat-seeking missile at him and shoots an AIM-9M Sidewinder at him.

The pilot's eyes widened, "When did he-" He doesn't get time to finish because the missile obliterates the craft.

Behind his helmet, Gryphus 1's eyes resemble the darkness of the abyss. These arrogant fools think they can attack Aurelia? Not as long as the Gryphus Squadron's around!

Aquila Squadron is able to take down the fighters protecting the bombers with the help of Falco Squadron, paving the way for Aquila to down the stealth bombers. They hear the missile alert going off and they look frantically to see where the missiles are coming from. They look up in time to see the objects hurtling towards them and their lives are extinguished in an instant. The enemy aircraft was a modified Su-47 built for stealth.

The Su-47 pilot turns her attention to the F-22 Raptor piloted by Gryphus 1.

Gryphus 1's eyes detect a flash coming from the distance which turned out to be the Su-47 reflecting the Sun off its dark body. The two stealth fighters pass each other and the Su-47 turns hard to the right and gets behind Gryphus 1 this makes the Aurelian ace pull evasive maneuvers. The two attempt to gain a lock on the other but they keep shaking it off. Gryphus 1 spots another flash coming from his 9 o'clock and he firewalls the throttle sending his F-22 at that direction. The enemy pilot from 9 o'clock has enough time to gasp before an XLAAM turns his jet into a fireball.

The Su-47 fires its cannon at Gryphus 1 but the pilot executes a somersault to get behind the enemy fighter. Acquiring a lock he fires a heat-seeker and the Su-47 pops flares to confuse the missile. Getting closer he fires his aircraft's 20mm M61A2 Vulcan Gatling gun and the rounds skid the enemy fighter's left wing. He follows his target as it turns hard left.

Gryphus 2 leads a flight of enemy MiG-29s toward the ocean, they break the sound barrier and he pulls up sharply missing the water by mere inches. The trailing Fulcrums don't pull up in time and crash into the ocean with the force of 400Gs killing the pilots instantly. Gaining altitude Gryphus 2 fires his aircraft's gun at the underbelly of the target, the rounds quickly tear the enemy's airframe apart and he releases chaff to jam the radar of a XLAAM launched by the Su-47. The Raptor banks left to shake his pursuer but the enemy mirrors every movement.

Gryphus 1 said, "Gryphus 2, when I count to 3, bank right as fast as you can I am to attack from above. Ready?"

Gryphus 2 nodded, "Yes, sir!"

The 19-year old counted, "1...2...3, bank now!" Gryphus 2 banks right and the Su-47 pilot is taken by surprise at the move.

Gryphus 1 arms his last heat-seeker and waits for the lock to turn red. Soon it does.

He called out, "Gryphus 1, Fox Two!" Pulling the trigger, latches holding the missile let go and the projectile screeches to the Su-47's heat trail.

The enemy pilot looks up and screams just before the missile ends her life.

Down on the ocean, the enemy fleet watches the battle through a screen and it was not going well for them.

The captain of a cruiser rubbed his goatee, "So this is the infamous Southern Cross. His skills are truly impressive. To down that many planes without taking a hit is a testament to his abilities."

The admiral was livid and said, "Our invasion force has been destroyed by that demon! We've got no choice! Prepare the new missile!"

A radar man objected, "Are you crazy? It hasn't been tested yet! We don't know if it'll launch! I strongly recommend not going through with this!"

The admiral barked, "So? This is the right time to test it! Target Gryphus Squadron and fire the missile. Now!" The missile launcher on the cruiser's bow aims at the Aurelian squadron's location and the new missile's booster ignites, sending the missile on its way.

Crux alerted, "Gryphus Squadron, my radar has picked up a surface-to-air missile heading your way!"

Gryphus 2 said, "What? Which vector is it coming from? Answer me now, Eugene!"

Their AWACS reported, "Vector 340, 6,000 feet and climbing."

Gryphus 2 exclaimed, "I'm out of missiles! My gun's down to 90 rounds!"

Gryphus 1 examined his weapon layout, "I have no heat-seekers, one XLAAM and 100 rounds of my gun left." He spotted the missile coming into view, "We don't have much choice, do we? Alright, I'm switching to my remaining XLAAM." He patiently waits for the lock to turn red and fires.

The two missiles head for each other and the ensuing explosion creates a rapidly expanding fireball. It envelops Gryphus Squadron and Crux's AWACS.

Gryphus 2 said, "I'm too young to die! I still have a lot of goals to meet!" He along with Gryphus 1 notice a change in the fireball.

Its color changes from orange to aqua green and its shape morphs into a wormhole and begins transporting them to another dimension.

Gryphus 2 asked, "Why is this something out of a science fiction movie?" The fireball dissipates and Gryphus Squadron was nowhere to be found.

The admiral on the enemy cruiser believes the missile has done its job. He was only half right.

A/N: Prologue done.

What's up, my faithful readers? This is an Ace Combat/Vandread crossover challenge issued to me by Redstar Henry. This time around it involves Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception for the PSP. The routes mentioned here are the ones I take in the game. Just wanting to point that out so that no one gets confused.

Here former Leasath commanding officer Diego Gaspar Navarro looks to exact revenge for the defeat he sustained at the hands of Gryphus 1 during the Aurelian War.

The armored g-suit Gryphus 1 wears is based off of Darth Vader's suit and the armor, weaponry and technology is based off what the Predator uses. Reason why will be explained later.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 1.

Vader 23A


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Far From Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

The wormhole opens up and spits Gryphus Squadron out before vanishing.

Kyle's face lied on the control console as he starts regaining consciousness. He straightens in his seat and shakes the cobwebs loose then looks around, the screen in his helmet was distorted thanks to the energy of that wormhole. He presses a few buttons on the miniature computer on his left gauntlet to fix the screen. The process takes only 40 seconds to scan, repair and reboot the system in the helmet. He presses a red button that controls the vision modes and selects enhanced vision.

He wondered, "Where are we? More importantly how did we survive that explosion?" He suddenly gasped, "Crux, do you read me? Crux, this is Gryphus 1. Crux, come in! Gryphus 2, do you copy?" A few yards from him, Alex comes around too.

Alex responded, "I hear ya, Gryphus 1. Did anyone get the license plate on that semi-truck that hit me?" He looks around seeing nothing but an endless sea of stars.

'Don't tell me!' He thought in realization.

Kyle seemed to have read his mind, "We're in Outer Space! But our fighters weren't designed for space because there is no air! How is it possible for the systems to operate in space?" His radio picks up a speech being broad casted on the desert planet below them.

A bald man with a mustache stands on a podium in front of a ship wearing a dark blue military uniform with medals signifying he's from the higher-ups. The Prime Minister's speech was being broadcast to the audience through a broadcast station.

The Prime Minister said, "My comrades, my brothers, the time has come for the Empire of Tarak to reclaim the glory it once had. Our great forefather Grand Pa guided us here but now we must leave this land we've cultivated through blood, sweat and tears to regain the pride of men. For today we have a new weapon that will change the course of history! In other words we have reached the point where we shall bring down the hammer of justice on our most vile nemesis, women!" Down in the bowels of the city, a teenager was finishing packing his bag.

He had black, wild hair that reached his neck and secured by some sort of headband, brown eyes, wore a long-sleeved black shirt, an orange jacket with black trimming, baggy pants and boots.

He sighed, "I wished I hadn't said that." He reflects back on the bet he made with some other third-class citizen.

Flashback

_A third-class citizen holds a piece of metal above his head, showing it to the others in the break room._

_He boasted, "Look at this, everyone! Every day we put our hearts and souls into making parts like this right here. But did you guys know that someone in this room came to me yesterday and claimed he would bring a completed Vanguard with this very part for all of us to see?" He pointed at the person, "And the one who claims he'll pull this off is the one and only Hibiki Tokai. That is what you said, right? You're gonna steal one of the Vanguards and show the rest of us third-class citizens the machine we never got to see. What's the matter, Hibiki? Don't you have nothing to say? Or are you feeling not too talkative because everything you said was a bunch of BS? After all, we know you say dumb stuff from time to time and there's no chance..." Hibiki was eating a bunch of pellets Tarak uses as a source of nutrition until he couldn't take the man's voice._

_Hibiki slammed his hands on the table and stood up, "I wasn't lying about that!" He crossed his arms with a grin, "And if you guys want to see one that badly, you're gonna get one!"_

_The third-class citizen said, "Did you hear that, men?" They cheer in unison._

End of flashback

Hibiki sighed again, "Me and my big mouth. Why did I have to get carried away like that? Stupid! Oh well, can't go back and change my mind. No matter what happens, I'm still a guy and Hibiki the man never breaks his word!" He sets out on his mission to retrieve the Vanguard.

The Prime Ministry continued his speech, "We will destroy the women of Mejale and the strength of men will triumph!" Hibiki makes his way up a flight of stairs while remembering the words of his fellow workers.

_"Come on, you know we're only third-class citizens."_

_"All we have to do is be quiet and keep making parts like these and we won't have to worry about starving to death."_

_"Don't be so hotheaded, shorty. You can't change who you are no matter how hard you try."_

'Maybe I am hotheaded but the blood inside me is screaming, telling me there is something out there in life. If you guys want me to prove it with actions then that's what I will do.' Hibiki thought as he made his way toward his destination.

The Prime Ministry said, "The power each of you hold will help rebuild the future of our great empire. The ship that brought us to this holy land, the Ikazuchi, has been revived! And our young men have boarded it as its new officers. You are the future of Tarak. This is no force in this universe that we need to fear with our manly strength! To repay the first generation starting with Grand Pa, we must combine the strength of the second and third generation. The moment they unite, our long awaited dream will come true!" He banged his chest, "We all feel it in our hearts, the new breath coming from the Ikazuchi. Look upon it, praise it, this is the flagship of the Tarak Imperial Army! You're the third generation of Tarak, the first graduates of the military academy were born to board the Ikazuchi. Congratulations! You have the blood of the first generation flowing through your veins and you are all legitimate brothers of the Original Eight Men including Grand Pa!" A blonde-haired soldier yawns in boredom. Who could blame him? Standing there listening to a long speech would make anyone yawn.

Hibiki makes it to the loading area.

A worker coughed, "I can't stand this dust! Hey, that box goes here not over there!" The young mechanic hides behind a box as it rides a conveyor belt up to the Ikazuchi and resumes heading for the storage area holding the Vanguards.

The Prime Minister informed, "As most of you already know, the main goal in our mission is to erase the piracy that has plagued our borders by the women circling our realm recently. However, don't forget you are on a battlefield so work diligently and stay on your guard!"

The Tarak soldiers shouted in unison, "Yes, sir!" Hibiki reaches the door containing his prize and stops for a breather.

He said, "Oh man, this place is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It's a good thing I didn't leave anything to chance, I would be in trouble if I hadn't done my homework." He puts a glove on and sprays before touching the hand scanner.

A computerized voice stated, "_Palm print does not match. Re-enter within 30 seconds!_"

Hibiki exclaimed, "What? No Way!"

The Prime Minister slammed his fist down, "Enough time has been wasted. Why wait for the designated hour to arrive? Wouldn't you agree with me, men?" The first-class citizens shout in agreement.

Taken by surprise, the crew already on the Tarak flagship get to their stations to prep it for takeoff.

Back with Hibiki he hears the countdown and when it ends, something will happen. He didn't know what but it won't be good.

He panicked, "Why is this happening? I couldn't have screwed anything up, I did it right this time!" He spits and blows on the glove then touches the scanner, this time it confirms the signature allowing Hibiki to calm his pounding heart.

He watches the door open to show the Vanguards.

Hibiki grinned, "Heh, piece of cake!" Unknown to him pressure tubes and latches detach allowing the Ikazuchi to begin its ascent.

He looks at the Vanguards hoping to see the one that had the scratch, he feared that the builders saw the scratch and replaced it but he spots it on the last Vanguard on the right side.

Hibiki's eyes shone with glee, "So that's where you are, partner. I must say you look pretty impressive. I'm gonna take you home with me now!" He jumps to grab hold of the Vanguard.

The Prime Minister ordered, "Launch the Ikazuchi!" Boosters ignite sending the ship on its way to space.

Once the Ikazuchi reaches past Tarak's atmosphere, the booster units disengage and separate from the vessel.

Gryphus Squadron finishes listening to the speech.

Alex deadpanned, "Okay, what kind of garbage was that? Men at war with women? Something you'd see out of a cheesy science fiction movie."

Kyle answered, "I have no idea. One thing I can say is whatever that wormhole was it transported us to a different dimension. This planet isn't showing up on any recorded file in my helmet's memory banks. Somehow the inhabitants were able to colonize the planet enough to sustain life though there's no water on the surface. They must have access to underground wells that'd be sheltered from the daytime heat." Inside the commons area, the cadets celebrate their graduation.

A dark-haired man said, "I assume you'll be assigned to headquarters, right Duero?"

A browned-haired man agreed, "With a record like yours, you can do whatever you want." Duero quietly takes a sip of his wine.

Their light blue-haired companion told them, "I heard he submitted his assignment form completely blank!" That earns a gasp of surprise from the others.

In Duero's opinion, none of the selected areas weren't interesting to him so he left the form blank of his signature.

A voice said, "Hey there, everyone having a good time?" They turn around to see a man with blonde hair, blue eyes and wearing a Tarak military uniform standing there.

He pointed at the box he was holding in one hand, "This is a sample of our company's new product. It's our own unique special formula nutrition pellet." He leaned in to whisper, "I shouldn't be telling you this but the quality of ingredients are far superior to other pellets." He offers them a sample but the men decline it earning them a mock hurt look on the blonde-haired man's face before he offers it to a pair of men passing by.

The light blue-haired man asked, "Who was that guy?"

The brown-haired man told him, "That's Bart, his father owns Garsus Foods. Let's just say his company is keeping us fed and not go any further."

The dark-haired man grimaced, "I'm getting a case of heartburn!" The lights turn off as a video screen appears.

A guy said over the PA system, "_Gentlemen, please direct your attention to the large screen in front of you!_"A video begins to play of the new Vanguard model.

The narrator said, _"Pierce, stab and slain. With these all-purpose accessories, the Tsukumo Van-type fighter is a weapon in and of itself. It is ready to slam down the fist of justice upon our enemies. It is the soldier at the front lines of our empire be it the skies, the seas, the plains, the mountains, there is no terrain that the pride of the empire cannot brave! The Tsukumo version Van-type, a new day for Tarak will be dawning right before our very eyes!"_ Virtually everyone cheers except Bart.

He face faulted, "They're so dorky!" The curtains pull away and the new Vanguards turn toward the audience, however the cheering ends when Hibiki was spotted. The Prime Minister ordered guards to get him, Hibiki initially fought off the guards but Duero saw it pointless. The guards restrain and take him towards the brig, throwing Hibiki inside before activating the laser grid.

Hibiki glared at them, "Bastards! Don't dump me in some storage room you could at least put me in a real prison!"

The first guard said, "This cell maybe used for storage but it's a brig so settle down."

His friend added, "They've decided to give you a public execution and it won't be quick and painless."

The first guard ordered, "High type number six!" A small white robot hovered over to him, "Watch him, understood?"

The robot complied, "Beep, roger."

Hibiki groaned, "Why must things get messed up in my life." He stared at his watcher, "Hey partner, would you be a pal and let me out of here? We were both born in the factory, right so that means we're kind of like brothers."

The robot corrected, "Wrong. We are composed of different materials therefore the term "brothers" is not correct and inappropriate. The subject is making an improper request. Instigating attempt of bribery and escape are crimes, therefore..."

Hibiki asked with fear, "Therefore?"

The robot answered, "Punishment." He zaps the poor lad.

Recovering from the attack, Hibiki snapped, "What the hell are you doing? Who do you think I am?"

The robot said, "Identity scan of subject commencing. Subject is human, organic in structure. Scan complete, you are..." Suddenly the Ikazuchi was rocked by explosions sending the robot into the laser grid, short circuiting it.

Gryphus Squadron watches craft of unknown design called Dreads swarm the Tarak flagship.

On the command bridge, the Prime Minister barked, "I gave the order to stop the exhibition!"

A bridge operator told him, "This isn't part of the exhibition. It's the women, they're attacking, sir! Formation has been breached!" Close by the pirate's ship watches the fray its fighters are causing.

Two women watch the show from the bridge.

One was a young woman with long silver hair that ended in a twirl, gray eyes, deeply tanned skin, wore a green top that had a choker with a gem and left her stomach exposed, bands on her arms and jewelry on her wrists, green baggy pants and boots.

She grinned, "Looks we caught ourselves a big one today, captain." Her companion was older than her, gray eyes that held years of leadership and wore robes that hid half of her face under a hood.

The old woman chuckled, "It seems today is our lucky day!" Kyle watches the Dreads destroy the Tarak escort ship Hijiri and Moroboshi with amazing precision.

The Prime Minister growled in disgust, "What deplorable tactics, they're hiding the background fire! Send the Vanguards out!"

The commander objected, "But most of them are trainees, Minister!"

The Prime Minister looked at him, "If we don't use our latest weapons now we'll bring shame to our forefather!" The pilots get inside the Vanguards and launch into battle, dog piling on a red Dread.

Its pilot said, "What are these things? They're getting in my way!"

The flight lead said in a calm tone, "Forget the Vanguards, concentrate on the enemy flagship." Kyle observes the battle with great interest, particularly how the Dreads used the enemy AA defenses against their own forces.

Kyle said, "Impressive. Most impressive."

Alex nodded, "I agree with you, Captain. Those pilots fly their Dreads like they were born to!" On the Ikazuchi's bridge, the radar man squints his eyes as if trying to make something out in the blackness of space.

He said, "Minister, I have spotted two unidentified craft lingering 50 yards away from us!"

The Prime Minister said, "Put it on screen immediately!" The monitor shows them the jets.

They were both of mysterious design, having large trapezoidal wings and had light gray colored bodies but the lead one's color was slightly darker to distinguish the two.

Pressured by the situation the Prime Minister glared at the subordinate, "Why couldn't we detect them on radar?"

The radar man replied, "It's not my fault, sir. They're probably using some kind of system that's keeping them invisible to radar!"

The bald man gritted his teeth, "Grr, no matter. All units, designate those unidentified aircraft as hostile and take them out!" Gryphus Squadron hears the transmission.

Alex asked his leader, "Is he for real? Doesn't he know what he's doing?"

Kyle replied calmly, "Does it matter? Gryphus 2, we are engaging the Vanguards. Weapons free." The fighters' engines roar to life and they dive into the battle.

Gryphus 1 avoids the Vanguard trying to land a hit on his F-22 with a right turn, coming around he fires a heat-seeking missile at the target. He quickly banks left to dodge the sword from another Vanguard and fires his aircraft's gun tearing the machine apart. He next spots a bunch of the Vanguards pestering the red Dread, its pilot downs 2 but the last one was closing in from her 12 o'clock.

The pilot said, "Get away, would you?" The enemy dodges her Dread's laser and raises its axe to cleave her vessel in half when out of the corner of her eye she spots Gryphus 1 shooting the Vanguard with the Raptor's gun, hammering the machine with deadly 20mm rounds. The force of the hits push the Vanguard safely away before it explodes. She next watches the belly of the stealth fighter open and missiles come forth taking aim at the AA guns protecting the entry point.

Gryphus 1 stated, "I got tone. Gryphus 1, Fox Three!" Two XLAAM fly toward the AA guns, destroying them upon impact.

'That man saved my life!' The blonde-haired Dread pilot thought in disbelief.

Gryphus 1 contacted her, "Since that Prime Minister guy decided to label us as the enemy, we felt that we'd help you get on board. Go on, the path is clear for you to enter. My wingman and I will keep the forces out here busy." Grateful for his intervention, the blonde-haired woman shoots the door and she along with the other Dreads fly into the Ikazuchi to begin their raid.

Hibiki hot wires the brig's console and the laser grid flickers off.

He grinned, "Never underestimate a mechanic's knowledge." He's about to leave when he hears the white robot making continuous beeping noises like a person screaming in pain. He looks at the machine with pity and decides to bring it with him.

Inside the hanger, a soldier turns a switch to restore gravity while holding a rife equipped with a knife attached to it.

He said into the phone, "Cargo bay restored, preparing to engage the enemy directly!" He drops the phone to engage the raiding party.

The pirates disembark from their ships wearing spacesuits and helmets/masks with creepy designs made for the sole intent of installing fear into their enemy, men. They exchange fire with the soldiers using lasers and one of the pirates gets clipped in the shoulder.

The pilot of the blue Dread has difficulty controlling her machine and sees blast doors rapidly coming closer, she fires her craft's lasers at the last second.

Hibiki runs across the walkway in the engine when he notices the roof in front of him beginning to bulge, turn orange and then explodes. Everything went black afterward.

On the Ikazuchi's bridge, a lever rises from the console and the Prime Minister places his hand on it.

The commander objected, "Minister, you mustn't do this!"

Fake tears pooled in the bald man's eyes, "We can't let the entire ship be taken by our enemy, I must save at least the new section of the Ikazuchi. Before everything falls into the hands of females I'll separate the old from the new!" He pushes the lever and explosive bolts disconnect the ship, freeing the old section.

In the engine room, Hibiki recovers from being flung across the walkway. His hand comes into contact with something soft yet pliable.

He asked, "What's this?" He looked up and freaked out, "Ah! A monster!" He pushed the female off him and starts escaping before it calls out for him to wait.

The pirate removes its helmet/mask to show a beautiful young woman around 16 years old, long, gorgeous red hair that extended past her slim waist and twirled at the end like grape vine, twin bangs lined the sides of her face with fancy bands in them, green pendent hung from her neck, sparkling blue eyes, wore a short tank top that exposed her stomach, a decorative jacket and matching miniskirt that showed off her curves, ankle-high boots and a golder tiara rested on her head. This girl's name is Dita Liebely

She said in excitement, "Wow, it's a real alien!"

Hibiki blinked in confusion, "Alien?" The redhead does a serious of hand gestures that Hibiki mirrors with the same look on his face.

Dita beamed, "It worked! I made first contact!"

Hibiki laughed nervously, "Heh heh, see ya!" He bolts with Dita struggling to get the suit off her, both of them unaware that the engine begins to glow.

A Tarak cadet flinches from the laser bolt shot inches from him.

The woman warned, "Stay where you are, we'll shoot if you try anything stupid." Three more Dread pilots remove their suits.

The first one was a stunning young woman 20 years of age, had blonde hair that almost reached her ankles, stood at 5'8, green eyes, slim figure, wore an exotic not to mention revealing black dress that showed some of her full and with slits around the legs to allow free movement and a rapier attached to a belt on her waist. Her name is Jura Basil Elden.

The second was another beautiful woman, this one was a year younger than Jura at 19, stood at 5'6, wore a form-fitting white and black flight suit that showed off her athletic body, light blue hair in a boyish style that went past her ears and spiked at the front and straightened out in a fan-like pattern at the back, aqua blue eyes, pale skin and a circlet covered her left eye but it didn't hamper her beauty with a face that showed leadership. Her name's Meia Gisborn, leader of the Dread Squadron.

The last pirate was almost a copy of Meia in terms of appearance but had light blue hair that went past her shoulder blades, wore a flight suit that was red and charcoal gray in color, stood at 5'7 like Jura, was 17 years old and lacked the circlet. Her name is Mia Gisborn, Meia's younger twin sister.

Jura said, "I know it's disinfected and all but I won't ever get used to the smell!"

Meia asked, "Where'd Dita go?"

A Dread pilot informed her, "Last I saw her she was having problems flying her Dread and because of that-ow! That hurt, Paiway. My skin's delicate I'll have you know."

The woman named Barnette was 18 years old, had dark green hair, violet eyes, wore an outfit that resembled a one-piece bathing suit covering between her legs, sides, stomach and chest leaving the top of her breasts exposed, shoulder pads attached to clasps on her shoulder blades, thigh-high boots and gloves that went past her elbows. A crown jewel and clip finished the attire. While her breasts weren't as large as Jura's, Barnette was well-formed in her own right and her amazing figure made the brunette more attractive.

Paiway was the pirate crew's nurse around 11 years of age or 12, black hair tied in twin pigtails, red eyes, wore an outfit that resembled a French maiden outfit, elbow-length black gloves and knee-high boots.

She replied, "Just try to tolerate it."

Barnette argued, "Nurses should be a little more sensitive."

Paiway fired back, "I am being sensitive!" Duero looks at them and grunts before moving on.

Back with the battle outside the Ikazuchi Gryphus 2 smokes another bunch of Vanguards.

He said in disappointment, "These guys have no experience with those tin cans. I have seen rookies in Aurelia fly better than this. Makes you wonder if these guys receive any training." His craft's alarm went off again, "This is getting old." His F-22 easily avoids the last Vanguard and downs it with a heat-seeker.

On the new section of the Ikazuchi, the bridge operator said, "The unknown fighters have wiped out half of our Vanguards like they were nothing and the Mejale pirate ship is heading for the old section!"

The Prime Minister said, "Those females move fast, don't they? Prepare to fire a torpedo, the Muramasa!"

The commander gasped, "Minister, are you actually going to destroy the old section?"

His superior stated in fury, "I rather destroy it with my own hands than let it fall into the hands of women!" Hibiki continues to run away from Dita inside the engine room. His backpack gets stuck on some nails and the young mechanic struggles against it until the strap breaks.

Dita snapped a couple of shots, "Mr. Alien why are you running away?"

Hibiki said, "Not only are women scary but they don't make any sense either!" Duero reaches into a locker to retrieve a medic's coat.

The gun woman spotted him, "What do you think you're doing? Get in the capsule!"

Duero replied, "There's time for that later."

The woman warned, "You better start cooperating. Get in the capsule or I'll shoot!"

Duero informed, "I'm no threat to you." He turned to look at them smirking, "I happen to be a doctor." Escape pods jettison from the old section of the Tarak flagship.

The Prime Minister asked no one in particular, "Is this their way of showing us pity?"

The commander offered, "Perhaps we can end this battle with diplomacy."

The Prime Minister ignored him and asked the missile operator impatiently, "Isn't the Muramasa ready yet?"

The operator told him, "Calculating distance to the target!" A radar map shows the missile lock forming.

Back in the cargo bay area Jura said in disappointment, "I was looking forward to this because they said it was gonna be big but it's actually junk!"

Meia said, "Jura, we're going to look for Dita."

Jura sighed, "That's why I asked not to bring along a trainee."

Mia explained, "Look Jura, we're short-handed as it is. If you didn't want to take part you should have spoken up earlier."

Jura said, "Okay, I get it. You want me to go with you, right?" From the canopy window of his stealth fighter, Gryphus 1 sees a pair of torpedoes lowering into view.

Gryphus 2 stated, "That's not good." The pirates in the Ikazuchi's sub-bridge notices it on the radar too.

Ezra gasped, "A missile's been locked on to us!"

BC gasped, "What?! Parfet, is it possible to move the ship?"

The lead engineer shrugged, "I'm afraid not because the engine's dead."

BC growled in frustration, "Grr, what do we do, captain?"

Magno ordered, "I see it. Losing the ship would be a shame but our lives are important. Evacuate immediately!"

The silver-haired woman replied, "Roger. Did you get that, Meia?" The Dread leader confirms it from her location on a walkway inside the engine when she hears a scream. The three look down to see Hibiki being chased by Dita.

Jura stated dryly, "Do you see that, Meia? She's chasing a man."

Mia rolled her eyes, "Thank you, Captain Obvious. We better get Dita before this place gets blown to hell." Duero finishes patching Barnette's arm up and looks at her.

Barnette asked, "What? Is there something interesting about me?"

Duero nodded, "Yes. Very."

The brunette said in a cold voice, "Don't expect a thank you!"

Duero stood up, "I don't. I suppose I'll go now."

Paiway whispered as she wrote in her little book, "He touched a total of five girls." The ship rocks as the Mejale pirate ship fires at the new section.

The bridge operator said, "Sub-controls have been hit!"

The Prime Minister asked him, "The missile?"

The man replied, "It's still in the process of fueling!"

The Prime Minister ordered, "It has more than enough fuel. Target the old section of the Ikazuchi and fire!" With the push of a button, the torpedoes are launched.

Their enemy's ship appears below the old section and a boarding tube connects the two ships.

Belvedere informed, "Crew extraction has begun. 300 seconds until impact!"

Magno said urgently, "BC!"

Buzam replied, "I'm the last from my team. Meia and the others have come back yet."

Magno said over the communicator, _"We'll have to let them return on their Dreads. Get back to the ship now!"_ Dita continues her chase of Hibiki until Meia tackles her.

Meia scolded, "What are you doing? You know better than to separate from the rest of the team!"

Dita apologized, "Sorry, Meia." 150 seconds left until impact.

"Hit or miss, either way it's our destiny." Magno said, bracing for the end.

The four Dreads that made it inside turn around to face the exit but Dita's Dread was stuck in the wall and she couldn't get it free while Hibiki struggles to get his Vanguard online.

With no missiles left, Gryphus 1 glares at the rapidly approaching Muramasa torpedoes.

Dita pleaded, "Someone please help me!" 5,4,3,2,1 and...impact!

A massive explosion happens while a bright light engulfs the surrounding area.

The crew on the new section of the Ikazuchi watch the event.

The bridge operator said, "We're losing mass, sir."

The Prime Minister sighed, "I hope you women enjoy the bitter taste of defeat in the afterlife!" Gryphus finds himself in an aqua blue sea-like realm and spots a humanoid robot materialize in front of him. Suddenly he plummets as if falling from a high cliff and was joined by seven others, screaming in terror as the same bright light from before swallows them.

A/N: Chapter 1 done. This is pretty much the "Character Chapter" as I like to call it since this is where we get introduced to the characters including an OC I decided to add in this story.

Gryphus Squadron find themselves in an alternate dimension where the two genders are warring each other.

Strangely I have nothing else to say except read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 2.

Vader 23A


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Allies

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

The bright light that swallowed the Ikazuchi and Mejale pirate ship reappears to spit them out along with pieces of debris.

On the pirate ship's bridge Magno groaned as she came to, "This certainly isn't the afterlife. Where are we?"

Amarone said, "I'll check." The ship rocks and a glowing aqua blue light appears, out in space glowing crystal-like tentacles form and begin pulling the debris and Mejale pirate ship toward the old section as it combines them to create a new form.

Magno asked, "What is going on? Is the crystal trying eat the ship or something?!" In the hanger, the Dread pilots start to awaken from the strange light. Meia was the first to gain awareness, holding her head.

She said, "Jura, you okay?"

The blonde-haired woman sat up, "Yeah. What was that light?"

Meia gasped, "Dita, Mia!"

Dita waved from her place of hanging on a ledge, "Hi, over here. Something went beep and then vroom! Alien powers are amazing!" Happy that her team was safe, Meia surveys her surroundings. Crystals covered everything including the Dreads. She watches her twin sister try cutting her Dread out with the laser ring but not a single crack forms in the crystals even with the laser at full power. A sigh escapes her.

Back on the bridge, Magno asked, "Gascogne, think you can detach us?" The Reg leader appears on a screen showing her group dealing with the same problem.

Gascogne said, "_Lasers have no effect and if we don't hurry, this area will get swallowed up as well!_"

BC popped up on another screen, "_The corrosion is starting to spread here too._"

Parfet appeared on the third, "_The engine's dead so we can't move!_"

Magno closed her eyes in thought, sighing, "Guess we'll have to get rid of it at the source. I'm going up. BC, Parfet, come with me!"

The two women nodded, "_Roger!_" They take a shuttle to the hanger and upon landing, the ramp lowers to allow its passengers to walk down.

Magno looked at the crystals in awe, "This is amazing."

Meia apologized, "I'm sorry you had to come all this way, captain."

Magno waved it off, "There's no need to apologize, Meia. I wanted to see this for myself." She then spots an unconscious Hibiki.

Meia commented, "This is the man Dita was chasing."

The pirate captain wondered, "It's been a while since I last saw a man, were their faces really this funny looking?"

Mia called out, "Hey girls, I've found two more!" The crew walks over to see Kyle and Alex unconscious while Mia checks them for injuries. She may not be a medical expert but she had enough knowledge to treat most injuries that don't need surgery. Because their helmets remained in place, Mia couldn't check their faces for signs of damage but was satisfied when she felt a pulse. She looks at their weaponry, feeling a cold shiver run down her spine at the sight of them. That chill grows more intense when her eyes take in the equipment Kyle's sporting. She cautiously removes the weapons.

'What's wrong with me? Why is it difficult to put restraints on these guys? I've never had problems with others before them!' Mia thought as her body froze unexpectedly.

_Kyle hovers in that same aqua green sea the sight unnerved him slightly. Suddenly 6 gray objects form out of nowhere, taking the shape of 4 women and 1 teenage boy._

_He asked, "What is this place? Am I dead?"_

_The one resembling Jura said, **"You..."**_

_The one resembling Dita stated, **"You are the one who'll lead them to discovering their origin."**_

_Kyle wondered, "What do you mean by that? Lead who to discover their origin?"_

_The one looking like Meia stated, **"You will lead them to understanding one another."**_

_The one resembling Hibiki said, **"And lead to find proof of their existence."**_

_Mia concluded, **"You must also face yourself if you want to redeem yourself."**_

_Kyle asked them, "What are you talking about? I don't understanding you speaking cryptically! What do you mean I have to face myself to redeem myself? I have no idea what you're talking about, say it more clearly!" The sea began to fade, "Wait, I don't understand any of this! Why have I been chosen for this? Answer me!"_ Kyle's eyes snap open behind his helmet after that strange dream or whatever it was, looking around he finds himself in some sort of storage area. Looking at the current state of his g-suit, finding it in relatively excellent condition save for a few tears here and there and scratches on the chest plating. However, he finds that his weapons and miniature computer are missing.

A voice said, "Glad you're awake."

Kyle ordered, "Who's there? Show yourself!" His eyes detect the man known as Duero.

Duero was probably around Kyle's age, stood little over average height, tanned skin, blue eyes, had a nice physique, black hair that reached the small of his back and covered the left side of his face. His attire was composed of a black bodysuit zipped up to below his pectorals and a Tarak doctor coat left open. He had an aura of calmness around him.

The young doctor said, "My name is Duero McFile, what's yours?" Briefly observing him, Kyle concludes the young man meant no harm.

The Aurelian pilot extended his hand, "Kyle Masterson, nice to meet you, Duero. The man laying to my right is my friend Alex Irvine."

Duero shook it, "Likewise. I must say you certainly aren't from Tarak, your flight suit tells me that much."

Kyle said in a cryptic voice, "The eyes can deceive oneself, Duero." The doctor wonders what he meant but he probed no further since Kyle was confused about the current situation.

Alex sits up and takes in his surroundings before he saw Hibiki hit his head on the stacked table.

'That must have hurt.' He thought.

Hibiki looked around, "Oh man, looks like I'm behind bars. This sucks."

Duero introduced himself, "My name is Duero McFile. Do you have a name as well, Mr. Third-Class Citizen?"

Hibiki snapped at him, "Don't make fun of me! My name is Hibiki Tokai and I'm not some third-class citizen!"

Duero smirked, "You're the one who made the commotion during the ceremony. How did you manage to sneak in by the way?"

Hibiki scoffed, "There's certainly a lot of questions today. Anyway..." He watches the white robot come back to the realm of the living, sporting a pair of arms, legs and a "face" which was essentially a pair of big eyes on a screen.

It scratched its head, "Pyoro! Where am I? Who am I?"

Hibiki looked at it with exasperation, "You've changed, haven't you?" The robot looks at him confused.

Elsewhere in the Ikazuchi, a panel to a statue fell open and out comes the coward Bart who was hiding in there since the explosion happened.

He crawled out, "I'm a big mess now, am I?" He walked around, taking in the bizarre scenery, "What the heck happened to the ship?"

A large crystal falls from the ceiling barely missing the young man.

He said, "What's going on here? Damn it, that wasn't funny!" He starts to crawl away when he looks up to see Meia pointing the laser ring at him, her thumb inches away from the trigger.

Meia warned, "Don't move, male!"

Bart chuckled lamely and grinned nervously, "Hi there!"

A stagehand looks at the ceiling in Reg Central.

She said, "Wow, Ms. Gasco it is appears we're connected from the inside too."

"Well, that's great. I had no idea that the Paksis had enough power to do something on this scale. And by the way, it's not Gasco IT'S GASCOGNE!" The Reg leader said in irritation at the nickname the others have given her, scaring the stagehand.

In the engine section, the engineers were dealing with their own problems. Their brains were working overtime as they try to figure how to correct the damage they sustained but didn't know where to start.

Parfet examines the readout displayed on a console in front of her.

She said, "As I suspected! They're linked down to the core!"

A fellow engineer asked her, "Is there anything we can do?"

Parfet ordered, "Insert the Linestar Particle charges into the main cable immediately! Just make it so we can control this thing!" Back in the brig, the white robot and Hibiki were doing a staring contest that Alex found amusing though Hibiki wasn't laughing.

He asked in irritation, "Want me to fix you or something?"

The robot shouted, flaring its arms in the air, "Don't make fun of me! I'm not broken!"

Hibiki snapped back, "Then what do you want?!" Alex picks up the sound of footsteps and directs his gaze forward to see BC and two guards.

'Guess we should consider ourselves lucky to have such gorgeous women as our jailers.' Alex thought.

Hibiki said fearfully, "Women! What do you plan on doing to me?"

BC smirked, "Calm down, this is the best place for you right now."

Hibiki scoffed, "Nice cover-up but you want to eat my guts!"

BC raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Eat your guts?" The two guards flanking her desperately try to keep a straight face on but were failing quick. One of them placed a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter.

The other giggled, "He believes that! Ha ha ha, my sides are killing me!" Hell, even Alex found it hilarious and it took every ounce of restraint not to join the security guards in laughing.

BC smirked, "Well, before we have dinner there is something I'd like to ask you. Come with us, please." The men and small robot follow the women to the interrogation room.

Hibiki looks at the breasts and the butt of the women, being on a male only planet this would be alien to him. He reaches out to touch one of the personnel's posterior.

Alex saw this and warned, "I wouldn't do that, kid. You won't like the result of it." It falls on deaf ears because Hibiki touches the woman's posterior and the guard let out a squeal, whipping around she gives him a nasty glare.

She yelled, "PERVERT!" She slaps him across the cheek so hard it leaves an imprint.

'Dumbass.' Kyle thought in disapproval.

The group reaches the interrogation room and were ordered to sit down.

Alex scolded, "That was very stupid of you, Hibiki. You should never invade a woman's personal space let alone touch their body without their consent." The guard Hibiki touched was looking away with disgust on her face while her companions had similar thoughts going through their minds.

The robot concurred, "He's right, you know. A man should be never rude to a lady." They hear a door open and two more people come in. Meia had her laser ring pointed at the back of Bart's neck to prevent him from trying anything while looking at the Aurelian pilots, wondering why they don't have restraints on them. Kyle looks at her and he suddenly had a flashback of someone who looked exactly like her but he quickly represses it as that memory caused him grief.

BC asked her, "Did you find another one, Meia?"

The Dread leader nodded, "Yes, I found him hiding in one of the platforms."

Bart chuckled nervously, "Hi there, comrades. Fancy meeting you here."

'How they allowed this guy to enroll into the military is beyond me. He has no combat experience, looks like he's about to piss his pants. He looks like he couldn't hold a gun at someone without twitching or accidentally shoot himself. He looks more like someone fitted for non-combat use but I can't decide which one.' Kyle thought as he mentally evaluated Bart.

The door opens and in came Magno Vivan, the distinct thud of her cane echoed through the room. She gives the men a hard studying look and sighs in disappointment.

She said, "I heard you rounded up some prisoners but they're just kids!"

The robot hopped over to where Magno's standing, "Hey! Interrogation time! I'll tell you everything!"

Magno looked at the machine and smiled, "How nostalgic it's a NAVI robot and this one's still functioning." Gryphus Squadron wonder what she meant by that.

Duero said with curiosity, "I'm not following here."

Hibiki agreed, "This a man's ship, isn't it?"

Magno confirmed, "Yes and before that it was used for colonization." Seeing the two men react in surprise, she smirked, "You didn't know? This ship disembarked from a planet called Earth to colonize other planets. Of course this happened over 100 years ago, long before any of your fathers were born. Unfortunately, your grandfathers stole this section of the ship and ran away into the night like cowards!" She finished her tale with a frown.

The robot added, "They overhauled the battleship and added residential quarters."

Magno said, "And now we find ourselves back on this battleship. This is our business, you know so we'll gladly take the ship. The only problem is what are we suppose to do with you guys?"

Meia suggested, "We should get rid of them, things are unstable enough."

'Wow, cold much?' Alex thought with a sweat drop.

Magno smiled slyly, "No need to be hasty, Meia. We should carefully consider how we wanna cook these fellows up." She licks her lips in an act of intimidation.

The move is obviously effective because Bart and Hibiki pale and sweat bullets while Duero remained calm due to his training as a doctor and the Aurelian pilots, having seen things a lot more frightening than this, were stoic.

Kyle asked, "Seriously? Do you guys believe that propaganda bullshit? I have seen TV ads more convincing than that."

Alex looked at his flight lead, "Can't blame them, pal. They were raised to believe that women are monsters who'd eat them raw and pick their teeth with the victim's bones. Duero on the other hand takes it with a grain of salt because he possesses more common sense than the other two. However, I comment on the psychological advantage it gives to their enemies." Duero and to an extent Meia was curious, Bart and Hibiki look at them like they lost their mind and Magno was intrigued.

She smiled, "You two are brave to say such things."

Alex shrugged, "No, it's nothing like that. Let's just say Kyle and I are more open-minded than others. We don't jump to conclusions without seeing them first and ask about it."

Magno ordered politely, "Very interesting. Can you take off your helmets? I'd like to see the face of the people I'm speaking to."

Kyle said, "Only if you promise us not to have your guards shoot us."

Magno nodded, "You have my word." Happy with their answer, they bring their hands to the helmets, undo the clamps at the neck with a hiss of air and lift them over their heads exposing their faces.

The three pirates blink in surprise, they were expecting young men but the pilots haven't reached 20 yet. The insignia on their flight suits were nothing they have seen before.

Meia looked into Kyle's blue-gray eyes and could see a storm of emotions within them. They hold a cold intensity that could freeze hell itself, years of experience and leadership. Yet they also hold pain and sadness.

Kyle went first, "I am Kyle Masterson, my callsign is Gryphus 1 and leader of Gryphus Squadron."

Alex was next, "My name is Alex Irvine, callsign Gryphus 2 and wingman of Kyle Masterson. Together we make up Gryphus Squadron."

Kyle caught Meia staring at him, "What? See anything you like, ma'am? In case you guys are wondering, Alex and I are not from your home worlds Tarak or Mejale."

Alex nodded, "Yeah, what he said. If you don't mind me asking, what year is it?" Somehow the pilots didn't like the answer they were about to get.

BC said, "The year is 2821." Alex did the math in his head and paled, he grabs Kyle by the shoulders with a scared look on his head.

He comically shook Kyle, "Oh my god, we're 800 years in the future Kyle!"

Kyle said, "Alex, please calm down. Shaking me isn't helping." He bonks his wingman on the head effectively stopping his fear induced state.

Alex cried, "Thank you, I needed that."

The slightly older pilot said, "With that aside, don't you have three other men to sort out?" In the changing ship's garden, Ezra looks at a bunch of constellations through a miniature telescope.

She groaned, "None of them match."

Dita replied, "What do you mean none of them match? It's amazing to come across aliens!"

Ezra nodded, "I agree, it is amazing. We thought the Paksis was some power source but we were proven wrong. It had the capacity to restore things like the ship."

Dita sighed dreamily, "It made it like new. That means if I get abducted..." She heard the brown-haired woman sigh, "What's wrong, Ezra? Don't you feel well?"

Ezra smiled, "I'm fine, Dita just thinking about the comrades we left."

The redhead said, "I know what you mean. Hope we can get back to them soon." She then spotted something in the distance, "Hey, look over there!"

Ezra looked through her telescope as she asked, "What do you think it could be?" She's taken by surprise when the bubbly redhead jumps in front of her and dons a starry look on her as images flash through her mind about green, big eyed men and spinning discs.

Dita said excitingly, "Isn't it obvious? It's a UFO!" Magno eats some Jello like snack.

She said, "So aside our two pilots here, the long-haired one's a doctor but what about the other one?"

Meia answered, "He's an attacker."

Hibiki barked, "Hey! I'm not a..." He felt his ribs getting jabbed by Bart and he glared at the man, "Why you..."

Meia added, "I happened to watch him climb into an enemy power suit." BC gets a call on her communicator from Ezra.

She asked, "What is it? Is it male reinforcements?"

Ezra said, _"Actually it's..."_

Dita cut her off, _"A UFO!"_ The unknown enemy begins its attack on the immobile ship, vibrations from the impacts rock the interior causing cracks to form on the wall and ceiling of the interrogation room.

The bowl of Jello falls out of Magno's hands and shatters on the floor.

Magno groaned, "My afternoon snack!"

Meia ran out the door, "Dread teams are moving out!" Soon as she left, the vibrations send pieces of debris falling onto a guard, trapping her.

The second one said, "Hold on, I'll get you out."

Duero told her, "No! You mustn't move her!" She pointed her laser ring at him when he jumped over the couch and Duero assured, "Don't worry, I'm a doctor. I just want to see what I can do to help. I'll need your help." Kyle was mentally debating on whether to help their unknown captors he soon reaches a decision.

Kyle said, "With your permission, Magno Alex and I can help your forces in repelling the enemy forces attacking us."

Seeing no deception in the young man's eyes, Magno nodded, "Very well. You are free to engage the enemy, don't get yourself killed out there."

Kyle saluted her, "We won't." They rush to the hanger putting their helmets on as they did so.

Taking their example, Bart said, "You are very fortunate to have found me, captain. You see, I happen to be a helmsman."

Magno titled her head, "A helmsman, you say?"

The white robot informed her, "Warning! This guy is trying to pull something!"

Magno said, "You be quiet! What are you proposing, young man?"

Bart suggested, "I say we call a temporary cease-fire between each other to repel the invaders. Who knows, maybe we can help each other out."

Magno thought about it, "That's not a bad idea."

Bart extended his hand, "I'm glad to see you have agreed to the terms. Let's shake on it."

Magno whacked his hand away with her cane, "Listen up, I have no wish of getting chummy. You will still be treated as a prisoner, understood?"

The blonde-haired Tarak chuckled nervously, "Whatever you say, madam."

Duero said, "I can't do anything here. Lead me to sickbay!" Meia and the other Dread meet up in the hanger, upon arrival they see their respective Dreads transformed.

Jura blinked, "Are these ours?"

Dita gasped, "Wow!"

Getting into the cockpit, Meia placed her hands on the control spheres, "Looks like the controls haven't changed much. How's everything on your end?"

Jura said, "I think I can fly this."

Dita beamed, "They seemed to powered up! This is so exciting!"

Meia advised, "Don't do anything reckless, okay?" They fly out to enter combat with the enemy attackers.

They were shaped like cubes with little arms and legs.

Meia lines up with one and shoots her Dread's lasers at it and the machine blows up. She performs a high g left turn to avoid enemy fire.

She winced from the turn, "The controls respond differently."

Jura showed on a monitor, _"One thing I can say is that these definitely aren't men."_

Dita said in anger, _"It's obvious that these are really bad aliens!"_

Jura sighed at the redhead's antics, _"Oh, boy."_ A pair of cube-types appear in Meia's sight.

She narrowed her eyes, "What are those things? Are they really aliens?" Mia takes full advantage of her Dread's transformation.

The younger Gisborn chases a pair of cube-types through space and soon acquires a lock, firing 2 missiles at her targets effectively destroying them. However, she hears her Dread releasing the missile warning and looks around to see where her attackers are coming from and spots a group of Su-37 Terminators closing in on her 7 o'clock. She banks left to shake off the lock and the enemy fighters turn to follow her. The Su-37's speed and maneuverability allows them to keep pace with Mia. She performs a U-turn and flies past the enemy's cockpit her eyes widen in shock to see that there's no pilot behind the controls.

'Are they remote controlled?' She mentally wondered.

Inside the changing ship, Bart and Magno arrive at the bridge Bart didn't have those weird hand restraints on at the moment.

Magno said, "Show us what you can do, great navigator." She pushes him forward and Bart cautiously approaches a strange pool of aqua green liquid.

He stared at it, "What is that?"

Magno asked, "What's wrong? Don't tell me you don't know how to use it?"

Bart chuckled, "No, it's not that. This is just a secret weapon of our military!" He screams as the liquid changes into a tentacle to grab hold of his leg and pulls him inside.

Magno watched it with wide eyes, "My goodness! That's some kind of secret weapon!"

The white robot nodded, "He doesn't know how to use it!" Opening his eyes, Bart finds himself in a sphere that offers a 360 degree view of the battlefield. Oh and he was butt naked.

When he moves his arm, the ship responds to the movement.

Arriving at the hanger, Gryphus Squadron sees their fighters mostly free from the crystal that encased them earlier save for a few remnants on the airframe. They enter the stealth fighters and the canopy closes as they do a systems check. Checking the weapons layout, they see their weapons have been refilled by some unknown means. They line their planes with the hanger exit.

Kyle called out, "Gryphus 1 here, I'm taking off!" He activates the afterburners and was thrown into his seat as the jet flies out to space.

Alex said, "Gryphus 2 heading out!" He too was thrown into his seat as the F-22 accelerates out of the hanger.

Meia hears the missile warning and turns left to avoid the missile shot at her from an Su-37, looking out she spots the enemy approaching from her 3 o'clock. It next fires a QAAM at her, it follows her Dread everywhere she turns and forces her to increase her Dread's speed to gain distance, turn around and shoot the missile down then arms a missile of her own to fire. After gaining the lock, she fires but the Su-37 releases flares to confuse it. Using every ounce of piloting experience she gained over the years, Meia follows the enemy until a swarm of cube-types fly into her line of sight and the Dread leader shoots them down. This allows the Su-37 Terminator to shoot its cannon at her, she barrel rolls to avoid the 30mm rounds.

She said, "These fighters are persistent. Captain, we could use some help here."

Magno responded, "Sit tight, reinforcements are on the way."

Meia wondered, "Reinforcements?" She grunts in annoyance when the radar warning sounds again and she looks to her left to spot more enemy aircraft closing the distance to her silver Dread, this time a pair of MiG-21s. However, before they can fire a missile they get destroyed by XLAAM missiles shot from behind. The F-22s fly overhead.

Jura stated, "Those are our reinforcements?"

Gryphus 1 said, "Gryphus 2, we're clear to engage the enemy. Weapons free."

His wingman nodded, "Roger that, Captain." Gryphus 2 follows a pair of Terminators as they struggle to shake off their pursuer but the F-22 easily keeps up with them no matter where they turn.

He fires the Raptor's Gatling cannon, the 20mm bullets scream out of the 6 barrels that make up the weapon. Since there is no air in space to offer resistance, the bullets move faster and turn the enemy fighters into scrap metal. He also notices that the bullets were aqua green in color but maybe it was just his imagination. Switching to his special weapons he locks on to 4 cube-types and fires, he watches the missile head for their assigned targets and light up the blackness of space with bright orange fireballs. He hears the missile warning and releases flares to shake off a heat-seeking missile and somersaults over another Su-37 and downs it with a standard missile.

Gryphus 1 leads a MiG-21 through a steep dive but then pulls a sharp 40 degree vertical climb the hostile tries to match the move but its more sluggish maneuverability proves a challenge. The Aurelian arms a missile and waits for the diamond-shaped lock appear which soon does.

He said, "Gryphus 1, Fox Two!" The missile was released from its latch and blows the MiG up. Suddenly his instincts tell him to move left and he does to avoid gunshots from the cube-types that used the explosion to mask their approach. Gryphus 1 swiftly bags them after a few rounds from his stealth fighter's gun. He adds more kills to his record proving to his enemies why he earned the nickname "Nemesis".

On the bridge, Ezra gasped, "Oh my, look at them go. They are shooting down the enemy attackers like it's no challenge for them."

Magno smirked, "Now I see why they're feared especially Kyle Masterson. His reputation as Nemesis is well deserved." They are not the only ones witnessing this.

The Dread pilots watch in amazement as Gryphus Squadron wipes out the enemy fighters.

Gryphus 1 chases after some MiG-17s and with every maneuver they do he mirrors it like a predator chasing its prey. He obliterates the MiGs with the XLAAM and immediately breaks left to avoid gunfire from cube-types that closed in from his 5 o'clock. Quickly U-turning he retaliates with the F-22's Gatling gun, ripping the little machines apart until they explode. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Hibiki's Vanguard get pummeled after attempting a Thunder Punch that he boasted. While heading over to give support, he notices the Vanguard underwent some changes.

It sported a gold and white color scheme, extensions stuck out of the elbows and knees, its eyes were green and had a sword pack behind its waist.

Hibiki feels his Vanguard stop shaking and looks ahead to Gryphus 1 annihilating the cube-types.

He said angrily, "Hey, what'd you do that for? I had the situation under control!"

Gryphus 1 replied, "That's not how I saw that. It looked more like showing off." Hibiki was about to retort when he cut him off, "Listen, kid. We are going have to watch each other's back if we want to survive. Until this battle's over, you will pay attention and follow orders. Got it?" The deathly calm tone he used sends fear down Hibiki's spine. This pilot looked as if he wouldn't hesitate kicking his ass if he went out of line, Hibiki gulps and nods.

The young mechanic/pilot said, "Understood, sir." Gryphus 2 watches the Seed Ship unleash more blocks that separated into cube-types.

He wondered, "How many do those things have?" Purging doubt out of his mind, the Aurelian continues his battle with the mysterious enemy.

Mia grits her teeth at the seemingly endless enemy, no matter how many they destroy the number of enemies replenish faster than they can lower them.

Her charcoal gray Dread moves through some Su-37 Terminators' cannon, the bright orange rounds move past her canopy window. She pulls a hard right turn and fires her craft's laser cannons to get rid of her opponents.

Mia's eyes widen as she realizes they need to get rid of the Seed Ship but it required more powerful weaponry to destroy. What could have enough firepower to blow it up?

She noticed Dita's Dread approaching the Vanguard, "Dita, what are you doing? Turn back!"

Dita replied, "Don't worry, Mr. Alien will protect us!" Little does Mia know that she was approaching Gryphus 1's fighter jet.

A blinding light forms just as they get hit by enemy missiles.

The bridge crew saw the explosion.

Magno sighed, "Looks like our miracle didn't happen after all. Prepare to abandon ship!"

Gryphus 2 told her, "Hold on, I think I see something!" A hand emerges from the fireball and crushes the passing MiG-17. The fireball clears to show two figures.

The first one was humanoid in shape glowing red-hot but as the metal cooled its true color was a shiny blue, glowing green blades rested on the forearms, green eyes, dual laser cannons mounted its back and a horn extended from its forehead.

The second figure was also humanoid, silver in color, the occasional scales on its armor gave a more feral look, yellow eyes, had wing-shaped thrusters that look more like blades, its right hand clenched a twin-barreled plasma rifle, the left held a large shield it could use to protect itself and a sword rested on its right hip for close-quarters combat.

Magno stared at the machines, "What is that? Are those another secret weapon of the men as well?"

BC blinked in astonishment, "Unbelievable. Is this a miracle?" The machines speed toward the Seed Ship, the silver machine cutting down any cube-type that got in their way. The blue machine opens the Seed Ship and its laser cannons deploy, laying on the shoulders as they charge up. Its companion aims its plasma rifle and energy particles begin to collect inside the barrels. Once the charging is complete they fire their respective weapons, blue and yellow-white beams tear through the Seed Ship quickly emerging from the other end before it explodes.

Meia fears her comrades were caught in the blast but soon relieved to see the machine intact.

Inside the silver machine's cockpit, Gryphus 1 studies the interior. It was futuristic looking, that's for sure. Looking down he sees Mia staring at him with confusion.

Gryphus 1 asked her, "How did our machines combine?"

Mia shook her head, "No clue, I saw a bright light the next thing I knew I was sitting on your lap. My name's Mia Gisborn, by the way."

Gryphus 1 answered, "Kyle Masterson, callsign Gryphus 1 during battle." In the blue machine's cockpit, Hibiki comes to.

He sighed in relief, "I made it." He gasps when he sees his hand intertwined with a female's. Looking down he sees Dita leaning against his chest.

The redhead said tiredly, "I knew Mr. Alien would protect us."

Hibiki asked himself, "Is this the proof of my existence? Is it?" All of the former Ikazuchi's fighters return and as they near the hanger, the two machines defuse back into the Dreads, Vanguard and F-22.

After exiting their steal fighters, Gryphus Squadron were escorted back to the brig, handcuffed and all.

Alex said in outrage, "Are you women serious? We just risked our lives and this is how you repay us?" Kyle agrees with him silently.

A/N: Chapter 2 done. Gryphus Squadron find themselves 800 years into the future and stuck on a ship with an almost all female crew except for themselves, Duero, Bart and Hibiki.

They demonstrated their skills in the dogfight.

If any of you have name suggestions for the machines that Gryphus 1's fighter combines with, PM me.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Crux a.k.a. Eugene Solono

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 3.

Vader 23A


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A New kind of War

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

The next day finds the newly fused ship hovering near the debris of the first battle engulfed in a crystal-like cocoon by the enigmatic Paksis. Inside the conference room, Magno, BC and Meia have a meeting over the events that happened so far.

BC began her report, "Our ship has been completely swallowed up. The bridge, residential quarters and engine room have been consumed by the crystals. However, the Dread platform and Reg Central were untouched, we're cleaning up and installing the new database. The bridge has stopped sliding and now situated over the ship's garden. The growth of the Paksis Pragma seems to have reached its peak. All other changes have stopped for the time being. Your report, Meia?"

The Dread leader nodded, "Right. The four Dreads transformed by the Paksis no longer fit in the Dread platform anymore so we modified the cargo bay of the men's section to store them. When carrying out an investigation, I discovered this ship hasn't been used for some time. All the circuits are decayed and useless."

BC took over again displaying the holographic map, "The real problem is our current location. Crazy as it sounds, we're a long way from Mejale territory. In fact we're in a completely different nebula and according to our calculations, it will take us 270 days to return home." Magno soaks up the information while using a hand fan to cool herself.

The aged woman sighed, "What did we deserve to be swept across the galaxy?" She looked at Meia, "Have we found out anything new about our enemy?"

Meia replied sheepishly, "Yes. My team was understaffed so I...sent some volunteers to investigate the site."

Magno asked, "Volunteers? Who?"

Meia answered, "I chose Dita because her Dread was the nearest to the hanger exit and Gascogne since the job would go more smoothly if she went." Out in space, the blue Dread flies toward what remains of the Seed Ship, Dita takes pictures and says stuff about aliens. Gascogne sits in the seat behind her.

'This is going to be a long day!' She thought with a sigh.

On the bridge the female operators struggle to cope with the rising heat spreading through the ship.

Belvedere uses a small card-like piece of paper to fan herself.

She said, "What's going with the air conditioning?" She contacted the engine room, "It's 82 degrees in here!"

An engineer replied, "Stop complaining, it's over 86 here!" She next asked the leader engineer, "How are you doing on your end, Parfet?" The brunette hovered in the room where the Paksis resides wearing one of the spacesuits.

Parfet wondered, "This thing's ancient! Is it a prototype?" Elsewhere, Paiway sits on an elevator writing in her little notebook.

She narrated, "As the pirates take over the enemy ship, Magno's family faces an entirely new crisis!"

An engineer said, "If you got nothing to do, Paiway help us out."

The nurse replied, "I am doing something!" Barnette and Jura hop on carrying bags of whatever luggage they could get.

Barnette scolded, "Fooling around again? Seriously, Paiway."

Paiway put her hand into the frog puppet, "Barnette and Jura sure have a lot of stuff. We're lucky our area wasn't affected so that means we didn't have to move, ribbit!"

Jura scowled, "That pisses me off to no ends."

Barnette said, "You're not helping matters." She noticed the rope, "Why is that tied to you, Paiway."

Paiway told them, "This elevator's only temporary until the main one is up and running. I won't be held responsible if this one falls. See ya!"

Jura said with wide eyes, "You're kidding, right? Paiway!" Down in the brig, the men of Tarak and Gryphus Squadron are busy getting "decontaminated" by the women, which was essentially using hoses to douse them with cold water. Hibiki complained, Bart scurried around, Duero stood his ground and took it and Gryphus Squadron mirror the doctor's action.

Magno and BC watch it from a screen in the briefing room.

Magno asked, "So these are the only men left?"

BC nodded, "Yes. We'll have to rely on them until we can figure it out how to run the ship." Magno remembers how the sphere ejected Bart after the battle with their enemy yesterday.

Magno said, "I've never seen anything like it before, it's like the ship had a will of its own. I won't be forgetting that anytime soon." In the brig, Bart's telling some made-up story to pass time.

He stated, "It was so unnerving, my comrades were dying one after another and it became clear that it was up to me to retake the ship. Now fate has presented me with new allies..." Duero goes with the flow, Alex listens to the story so he wouldn't pass out from boredom, Kyle was impatiently tapping his finger against his crossed arms, his hatred for hot temperatures showing itself and Hibiki dosed off to space.

'Man, this sucks. I thought I had changed my life for the better but I was wrong. Still, what the heck...' He thought as Bart brings him out of his mental rant.

He asked Hibiki, "What happened back there? What's up with that Vanguard of yours and why did it combine with the Mejalian fighter?" He pointed at Kyle, "The same thing goes for you, Kyle. How did that stealth fighter combine with the charcoal gray Mejalian fighter and create that silver robot?"

Kyle said without opening his eyes, "My jet has a designation name. It's called the F-22 Raptor and as for how it combined with Mia's Dread, beats me."

Bart looked at Hibiki, "What about you?"

Hibiki snapped, "How should I know? Forget about it! You think I'm gonna forgive you for socking me?"

Bart raised his hands, "Now, now, no need to get upset. I was only thinking of your best interest."

Hibiki glared at him, "You really don't know when to shut up, do you? There's enough hot air in here as it is!"

Duero informed them, "He's simply worried. He is trying to get things off his mind through conservation. Try to forgive him."

Bart said in awe, "Man, you're pretty sharp. You must be one of the elite! What do you think? With your brains, my speaking abilities and they're fighting skills..." He pointed at Gryphus Squadron, "We'll have no trouble retaking the ship."

Alex interjected, "How about no?"

Bart whined, "Why not?"

Alex explained, "Your plan has many flaws. One, there is only five of us against an entire crew that could stop us before we even got the plan underway. Second, you guys lack experience in the realm of fighting plus your Tarak Academy sucks at training its pilots. I know Kyle here could waste an entire squadron of Vanguards without breaking a sweat. The last flaw is that you don't know if your enemy is listening in."

Buzam's voice called out, "He's got a point there. Would you care to repeat that?"

Bart told her, "Nothing much. We were just joking around."

BC replied with a sarcastic smile, "I'd like to her your jokes. You'll come with me, won't you?"

Bart chuckled nervously, "I'd be happy to as long as it's of social nature!" Dita and Gascogne begin their investigation on the damaged Seed Ship.

Gascogne said, "Hm, seems like a factory to me."

Dita exclaimed, "It's amazing! Look at that!"

From the conference room, Magno asked, "Anything substantial?"

Gascogne replied,_ "We're searching the database but it's pretty banged up, captain."_

Dita came into the Reg leader's vision,_ "Hey Gascogne, would it be okay if I looked around for a while?"_

Gascogne flicked her away,_ "Absolutely not! We got work to do!"_ With zero gravity in space, that simple flick sends the redhead careening back.

Magno found the sight amusing until she heard an incoming transmission from her chair and pressed the button, "Yes, BC?"

The commander said,_ "I've brought our navigator up."_

Magno answered, "I'll be right there. I leave the investigation in your hands, Gascogne. Contact me if you have found any leads."

Gascogne saluted her, _"Roger!"_ Magno presses a button that turns her chair around, move through a set of doors and slides down to her place on the bridge.

Bart greeted timidly, "Hi there, I heard you needed something from me."

Magno pointed at the sphere at the end of the bridge, "Yes, that thing. We haven't been able to run it by ourselves so tell us how you did it." The self-proclaimed helmsman looks confused at what she meant until it clicked in his head.

Bart said, "Well, guess I have no choice." He raised the handcuffs and BC deactivated them and Bart started walking, "Now pay close attention. This is a man's ship which means only men can fly it. Consider yourselves fortunate that you were able to find me. You could say that I..." He screams as the sphere sucks him in.

Magno sighed, "I don't understand this system at all."

Inside the helm again, Bart said, "Okay, let's see. How do you move this?" He moves his arm and like before the ship responds. The engines start and propel the ship in the opposite direction, throwing anyone not strapped in off their feet. The bridge crew experience it.

Belvedere said, "The system responded."

Amarone stated, "Projecting current destination."

Magno asked angrily, "What in blazes did you do in there?!"

Bart defended himself, "Wait just a minute!" Gascogne extracts a small data disk.

Gascogne said, "I've finished copying the data. Are you there?"

On her bridge console Ezra, "Gascogne, please respond. If you can hear me, please respond." She starts breathing heavily and sweating until she faints, her face flushed.

_Smoke, fire and carnage littered the interior of an enemy base, the sound of steel tearing through flesh echo throughout the room as screams bounce off the walls._

_A soldier parries a diagonal attack from his opponent's blade, sweat drips from his forehead due to the exertion and heat. The shadowy figure's assault becomes more vicious the movement of its weapon becoming blurs of motion until it recognized an opening in the opponent's defense and drives the blade into the man's chest and mercilessly slides it up 'till it slices the skull in two. A geyser of blood spews from the open wound as the body falls to its knees then to its sides._

_The soldier's allies cower in fear as the executioner advances to them, the blood dripping from the cloaked weapon._

_One begged, "Please, have mercy!" The shadowy figure drives its hand through the man's chest, ripping his heart out._

_The bloodthirsty figure said in a distorted voice, "Mercy? What about my people? Did you show them any mercy when you rained death upon them from above? Did you?!"_

_Another soldier said, "We were just following orders!"_

_His cloaked attacker cut his head off, "Wrong answer!" Soulless eyes bore into the remaining prey._

_A third soldier exclaimed, "Jesus Christ, what the hell are you?"_

_The cloaked figure responded, "I am Death incarnate! The destroyer of dreams! You have been found guilty of murdering innocent people! May hell embrace you with open arms!" He pulls out twin plasma grenades and pulls the pin off before throwing them at the group. The cloaked figure walks away from the building as a flash of light appears in the windows and seconds later, the roof of the base explodes. An unlimited supply of oxygen feeds the inferno making it grow in size and intensity. The cloaked figure screams at the heavens, his ferocious cry ringing through the ears of any passerby._

Kyle's eyes snap open. The first thing he sees is Duero's forehead on his.

He pushed him away in a moment of panic, "What do you think you're doing?"

Duero answered calmly, "Checking your temperature, that's all. I couldn't use my hands to do it so I had to improvise."

Kyle wiped the sweat off his face, "There's nothing wrong with me, doc. Aside from the rising temperature, I feel peachy."

Duero said, "You were mumbling in your sleep. You keep saying 'Make it stop! Make it stop!' Why is that?"

Kyle answered, "Everyone has done something they regretted doing. Let's say I committed an act that refuses to stay away. Anything else you want to know?"

Duero nodded, "Yes, I want to know why you're so calm around women."

Alex replied, "I can answer that one. We aren't from this dimension so that none of that propaganda garbage concerns us, where we're from men and women lived together. We've got company." He looks up to see BC standing there.

The platinum-haired woman said, "You're called Duero, right? It's your turn to come with us." Duero nods as the laser grid's deactivated to let him leave.

When grid comes online again, Kyle unzips his flight suit down to his waist he suspected the temperature must have jumped up another 10 degrees. If the air conditioning doesn't get fixed soon, he will riot.

An elevator takes Duero and company to the infirmary. The door hisses open as BC led them inside where Duero spots a crew member sitting next to Ezra's bedside.

BC informed, "She has a fever and it won't go down. I'd like you to take a look at her."

Duero looked at her, "That's curious. I was under the impression that Mejale's medical technology was highly advanced."

BC closed her eyes, smiling, "Hm, you really are one of the elite. You probe for information when you can. Very well, about 98% of the systems are offline including the infirmary." She looked at him, "Is the enough for you?"

Duero smiled, "I'll examine the patient." With the investigation team, Dita picks something up with her telescope.

Gascogne asked, "Something wrong?"

Dita replied, "Not sure, all I see are markers."

Gascogne said, "Something happened here. Our work's done, let's head home."

Dita nodded, "Roger." Suddenly the Reg leader senses movement and whips around to see strange objects slither their way towards her.

The ship flies toward a nebula.

Amarone reported, "Scanners are picking up a nebula straight ahead of us. We can't regain control of the ship."

Magno stated dryly, "It's just one problem after another, huh?" The Dread platform's offline so no one could rescue Dita and Gascogne and the fact that Jura and Barnette complaining about being stuck in the elevator don't help.

A zoom in showed Bart the approaching nebula, "We're heading into that? How do I stop this?" The ship flies into the cloud of gas.

Inside the infirmary Duero uses a hand-held sensor to scan Ezra's body, the light flashes red until it turns green over her stomach. The lights to the room go out.

Noticing this Duero snatched the communicator from the guard, much to her displeasure, "Engineering, I'm working on a patient. Make power to the sickbay a priority."

Parfet replied, "We've got our own problems here. I'd love to do that for you but I can't read man's language!"

Duero looked at BC, "If I were there, I could read it for you."

BC smiled in amusement, "Go ahead." He rides the elevator to the engine room and upon arrival, he gets the expected reaction from one of the engineers.

She exclaimed, "It's a man!"

Parfet turned around, "Come over here. I'm trying to check the status of the Paksis but I can't read the data."

Duero answered, "It's just a high-tech number six. What are you doing?"

The young woman pointed to the white robot and explained, "I don't know the exact reason but the Paksis and this guy's wavelengths are linked. I thought it'd make a good sensor but I cannot read the display." Duero walks over to the little machine and types on the keyboard.

The doctor cried, "Impurities are spreading within the main engine room. It's likely a reaction due to the sudden changes."

Parfet told him, "As I understand it, this system was originally designed to tap into the energy produced by the crystal's growth. But this reaction..."

Duero looked at her, "Perhaps it's due to the fusion of the two ships."

Parfet nodded, "Probably. Do you know how to fix it?"

Duero explained, "I'm sorry but I happen to be a medical doctor not an engineer."

Parfet retorted, "That's no excuse! Everything that moves is alive, that's what I believe. And it's the doctor's job to fix all living things, right?" Duero's curiosity of the engineer was piqued after that.

"You have a very interesting perspective." The man commented before removing his coat.

The ship shudders as it dips into a stream of water ice.

Amarone stated, "The engines have shut down, captain."

Magno grumbled, "Just when I get the good news we've stopped we end up in a nebula of all places." The small electrical fan next shuts off making the pirate leader sigh.

Belvedere alerted, "Captain, readouts show the ship is transforming again!" Ice crystals begin collecting on the wings.

Duero and Parfet see this through the display screen in the engine room.

Duero informed, "The ship's parameters are starting to change."

Parfet looked up from her clipboard, "I see. Why is this happening?" She flinched when the robot blew out the cables as it started "blushing", "What's wrong with this thing?"

Her companion speculated, "Perhaps it's due to the composition of the nebula." Parfet bangs her fist into her open palm as she realizes the ship was using the nebula to expel the impurities like the immune system would to fight off an invading virus.

The ice crystals on the ship's wings begin to peel off, unveiling a new, sleeker design to them.

BC showed up on a screen, _"Captain, I have a suggestion."_

The aged woman replied, "Go ahead, I'm all ears." She had an icepack on her head to desperately stay cool

BC explained, _"Our investigation's determined that the male Vanguard and one of the Aurelia pilots should launch without problems. It's a risk but we could have them use their machines to search for Dita and Gascogne."_

Magno blinked at the plan, "That's not a bad idea. Oh yeah, why are you in the men's section of the ship?"

A moment of silence ensued before the platinum-haired woman smiled, _"Just fulfilling my duty as your first mate. Over."_ With the investigation team, Dita shoots her laser ring to break up the yellow vined objects holding Gascogne.

Dita said, "It's not working!"

The Reg leader said, "This is just great. I can't believe I screwed things up this bad."

Dita told her, "Hold on, I'll get tools from the Dread!"

Gascogne shook her head, "Don't bother. Did you forget about our mission? We need to return with the data."

Tears filled the redhead's eyes, "I can't leave you here!"

The older woman gave her a reassured smile, "Who says you're leaving me here to rot? This isn't some third-rate soap opera, I want you to go back and get some help."

Dita reluctantly agreed, "Alright. I'll be back soon, don't go anywhere!" She flies to her Dread so she can quickly return to the main ship for help before it's too late.

In the brig, Hibiki stripped down to his loincloth in the battle against the temperatures that must have risen by another 20 degrees.

He moaned, "Hottttttt." Gryphus Squadron agrees with him there, Alex felt like they lost two gallons of sweat.

BC teased, "My, my, what an interesting outfit."

Hibiki asked, "So it's my turn now?"

The commander said, "Actually I came here to ask for a favor."

Kyle raised an eyebrow, "And what would that be?"

BC explained, "I'm going to be honest. We left some crew members behind." She pointed at Alex, "I want you to rescue Barnette and Jura from the elevator." She then pointed to Hibiki and Kyle, "And I want you two to rescue the investigation team we sent out earlier."

Alex asked her, "Why? Pirates have been known to use their captives for some purpose and then either kill them or throw them into the brig again. I haven't forgotten what your captain did to us after our first battle with the enemy. We risked our lives and your form of appreciation is throwing us in here afterward?"

Hibiki scoffed, "Yeah, give us one good reason we should help you."

Kyle said, "We'll do it." The three looked at the calm young man, "You heard me. We'll help you rescue your comrades, it'd be for the best we help each other than being at each other's throats. The strong help the weak. For some reason, I sensed no deceit in your words. Besides it will help relieve me of boredom. However, I would like to speak with Magno after this is over."

BC nodded, "Very well, I agree with your terms." The four men get dressed and head for their assigned tasks.

The screen in the engine room shows the impurities continuing to spread.

Duero said, "Look at this. The intake-outtake ratio is off."

Parfet replied, "It's because there aren't enough link routes!"

Duero added, "But the current ones can't handle the stress."

The lead engineer told him, "Don't be like that, there has to been an answer!"

The Tarak doctor cupped his chin in thought and looked at her, "How about a bypass? When there's a blocked artery you need to create a different route for it."

Parfet smiled, "A detour, huh? That's not a bad idea!" She patted him on the shoulder, "You know, you wouldn't make a bad engineer!" Parfet runs off to tell the other engineers while Duero contemplated on the sensation he felt when Parfet touched his shoulder.

Dita struggles to get a chasing pair of cube-types off her, the blue Dread shakes under the gunfire. Her radar picks up two unknown signatures and out of reflex, she fires her Dread's lasers at them. It's revealed to be Hibiki's Vanguard and Gryphus 1's F-22. Gryphus 1 avoids the lasers so Hibiki's machine took the hit.

Hibiki scolded, "Hey! Is that the way you thank someone coming out here to get you!"

Dita smiled, "The aliens!" Hibiki starts back up as the Dread approaches him, ultimately combining with it to form Vandread Dita. The two teens find themselves in the futuristic looking cockpit again.

Hibiki asked, "Would you quit moving around so much?"

Dita looked at him, "I want to thank you for coming to my rescue, Mr. Alien."

Hibiki said, "I didn't come to rescue you, I was...looking for you."

The redhead giggled, "Well, thank you."

Gryphus 1 told them, "This moment's touching and all but we still got a crew member to save. Get moving, I'll hold these cube-types off." Vandread Dita heads for the damaged Seed Ship as Gryphus 1 engages the cube-types.

He fires the Raptor's Gatling gun to let the enemy machines know he is their opponent. The cube-types swarm in on Gryphus 1 who barrel rolls through their gunfire and retaliates with missiles. Two more cube-types attempt to attack him from both sides but Gryphus 1 dives so they end up crashing into each other. His eyes pick up explosions taking place in front of him and a large plane flies through the fireball with a whole bunch of MiG-29 Fulcrums pursuing it. Using his helmet's mysteriously added zoom in, he spots holes in the aircraft's frame no doubt the result of the enemy's cannon.

His radio picked up the pilot's voice, "Mayday! Mayday! This is Crux, I'm under enemy attack! Requesting immediate support!"

Gryphus 1 replied, "Crux, this is Gryphus 1. I am flying towards you, I want you to pull up the moment I fire my XLAAM at your pursuers."

Crux told him, "I can't put further stress on the airframe otherwise it'll break apart!"

Gryphus 1 said, "Just trust me, okay?" The radio operator listens to his advice.

The belly underneath the F-22 opens and the XLAAM missiles deploy, gaining 4 locks Gryphus 1 fires them Crux pulls the joy stick back in turn causing his craft to rise. The XLAAM fly past the engines and obliterate the enemy fighters head-on. This didn't seem to faze the enemy formation because they continue pursuing their target.

He readies another set of XLAAM on the group, firing the missiles upon gaining a lock. The same result happens.

Gryphus 1's eyes become a glowing red with slit pupils and his already formidable piloting skill become more deadly. He approaches the MiG-29s from below and fires the Gatling gun tearing the Fulcrums apart in quick succession, dwindling the number of enemies. Eventually only 15 are left, the wings to the F-22 start to glow yellow and grow longer until they reached 6 feet in length, resembling blades. Gryphus 1 firewalls the throttle closing in from the enemy's 12 o'clock and barrel rolls, becoming a whirlwind of destruction. The blades tear the remaining MiG-29s apart and explode. With the enemy now eliminated, Gryphus 1's eyes return to their normal appearance and the wings return to normal as well. Confusion followed. What was that power he felt surging within him?

Crux said, "Gryphus 1, are you alright?"

The pilot snapped out of his confusion, "I'm fine." Gascogne watches a worker cube-type remove the yellow metallic vines.

She commented, "You guys work pretty efficiently, we could use someone like you." The hand came closer and Gascogne gave an uneasy smile, "So it's my turn now, huh?" However, the machine doesn't get the chance to lay harm on Gascogne because it gets crushed in the hand of Vandread Dita.

Gryphus 1 asked, "You okay?"

Gascogne chuckled, "Heh, saving me at the last minute. It's better than nothing." She gets inside the Vandread's cockpit and the group returns to the former Ikazuchi.

On the bridge, Magno grits her teeth as the asteroid-sized ice rock coming towards them when the fan next to her starts working again indicating that power was restored to the ship.

The pirate leader demanded, "Hard to starboard! 30 degrees!"

Bart exclaimed, "Please no!" He raised his arms to shield his eyes as he prepared for the end, when it doesn't come he lowers the arms to see the rock blown in half by Vandread Dita and scoffed, "Hmph, so he saves the day again."

Gryphus 1 said, "Quit complaining, be thankful you're not dead." Inside the cockpit of Vandread Dita, Hibiki looked like a zombie.

He groaned, "For some reason, I feel really tired."

Dita bounced on a certain part of his anatomy, making him feel more uneasy, "See? I told you it was amazing."

Gascogne replied in annoyance, "Yeah, great. Now get me out of here, would ya? Geez!" The guards lead Alex towards the elevator where Jura and Barnette were stuck in, he grabbed some rope along the way.

Alex turned to the guards and said politely, "Thank you for escorting me here, ladies. I assure you no harm will come to your comrades." He turns back around to search for an area that can hold the women as they climb up.

Jura shouted, "Is someone out here? Please help us!" The Aurelian comes into their view.

Barnette exclaimed, "What are you doing outside the brig, male?"

Alex brushed off that insult, "I was sent here by your captain." He lowered the rope, "Here. I have feeling this elevator is not going to last for much longer so I suggest you start climbing."

Barnette scoffed, "Like hell we will!"

Jura cried, "I'm getting out of here!" She grabs hold of the rope and climbs with expertise, Alex helps up over the railing then locks eyes with Barnette.

He said, "You're up next. It's either join us on safe ground or falling to your death, your choice." The dark green-haired woman reluctantly climbs up and no sooner because the elevator starts making groaning noises then its cables snap sending the elevator free-falling to the ground, shattering upon impact. The loud noise made Barnette jump into the arms of the nearest person out of reflex, Jura's eyes widen at the sight. Barnette soon realizes what she's hugging isn't feminine due to the feeling of lean muscle and lack of certain assets on the chest, she looks up to see the blushing face of Alex Irvine her face turns bright red.

'I'm hugging a man!' Was the only thought running through Barnette's mind before fainting.

Alex catches her in time and turns to Jura for answers but the blonde didn't have any answers.

Later that day, BC walked to the front of the bridge underneath Magno, "The captain and I have concluded our meeting. Upon analyzing the data we retrieved, we've decided to tell the entire crew." Her image was replaced with a dark planet with gears nearly covering its surface, "This is the enemy's home planet, we don't know its exact location but we assume they have quite a lot of firepower. They are attacking us in their territory because they believe our presence to be hostile. For this reason we'll expect more battles with this enemy along our way back to Tarak/Mejale territory. There's something else we discovered. The enemy has called upon the destruction of our home world Mejale as well as the men's world of Tarak, our faceless is hellbent on the complete annihilation of our home planets."

Magno took over, "We are pirates and our loyalties are not bound to Mejale or Tarak. However, we cannot allow an unknown drive away our potential customers therefore I have decided to head back as soon as possible to alert both worlds of this crises. In order to be successful we must incorporate the men we have taken prisoner into our crew." The crew gasp at that.

Bart said in a smug tone, "So you finally see it my way."

Magno concluded, "There's still many things we don't know about such as this ship and that large machine though I am certain we'll learn one piece at a time throughout our journey. I expect full cooperation among the entire crew. That is all." She ends the transmission with a sigh as the door to the bridge opens, Duero and Ezra appear.

Ezra apologized, "I'm sorry for what happened earlier but I'm ready to resume my duty, captain."

Magno asked Duero, "Well doctor, did you figure out what caused her to faint like that?"

Duero nodded, "Yes. It appears she has some sort of parasitic organism inside her." Magno gasps in fear!

Ezra soothed her fears, "It's nothing like that. You see...well, I think I'm going to have a baby!" Amarone and Belvedere smile at the announcement and head over to the gentle bridge bunny.

Amarone asked, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

Bart stood up, "But I thought all babies were born in the factory."

Ezra said, "I'm sorry for not tell you earlier, captain. I wanted to tell you after the raid."

Magno smiled warmly, "There's no need to apologize, Ezra. I hope you have a healthy baby."

Belvedere said eagerly, "Come on, Ezra tell us. Who's the Ohma?"

Duero asked, "What is that exactly?"

Belvedere answered, "An Ohma donates an egg and the Fahma nurtures it in her womb. Don't you know anything?"

Duero shrugged, "This is the first time I've heard of it." They didn't see Buzam retrieve a data disc from a nearby bridge control console.

Magno admitted, "There's still a lot of things we don't about each other, right BC?"

The platinum-haired woman answered quickly, "Yeah."

Magno told her, "Everybody better work hard especially with the new life that's going to join us."

BC nodded, "I agree. This looks to be one amazing journey!" Much later, Gryphus Squadron and Eugene sit in the conference room with Magno and BC.

Magno asked, "I heard you wanted to see me?"

Kyle nodded, "Yes. There are some things I want to speak to you about since I know you have questions too. As long as they're within answer range, I will tell you. First off, this man sitting to my left is Eugene Solano, our AWACS. In laymen terms, our eyes and ears of the sky during combat."

Magno began, "First thing I'd like to know is where you three come from? It's obvious you are not from Tarak judging by the attire you wear."

Kyle replied, "We hail from the Federal Republic of Aurelia or Aurelia for short on the continent of Osea. As for how we came here, I honestly have no idea. Last thing I remember is me and Alex trying to thwart an invasion on Port Paterson orchastrated by one of the two people I despise so much." He added the last part with so much hate that the two pirates could feel it.

The pirate captain said, "Next question is what are those fighters you pilot? They're not like anything I have seen."

Kyle answered neutrally, "They are stealth fighters, the most advanced of our dimension and I won't go any further than that. Call it being cautious around strangers since we don't trust you enough to share more information!"

Magno said, "Last question. You guys are calm around us. Why?"

The Aurelian replied, "We are from a society that is composed of men and women. With those questions answered, I'd like to go over the demands with you. First, nobody including the engineers are allowed to tamper or modify our fighter jets without my permission. Second, my g-suit and weapons are off limits. No excuses! Third, we only take orders from you or Buzam. In return, you get our services of protecting your crew during this journey back to your home worlds. Lastly, I ask permission to have rooms of our own. You do have spare ones, right?" Buzam nods though she along with Magno were kind of hoping to find out more about the F-22s and that large aircraft Eugene flew.

Magno agreed, "Very well. I accept your terms. I'll have whatever stuff you have on ya brought to your assigned rooms. Take it as the first step to knowing we mean you no harm."

Kyle warned, "I hope so, Magno for your sake. I do not take too kindly to betrayal, cross me and you will regret it."

'Still obsessed with that, Kyle?' Alex thought with a sigh.

The Gryphus Squadron leader stood, "I bid you farewell then." BC gives Kyle his gauntlets, wrist blades, miniature computer and M9A1 pistol to him upon orders from Magno.

The young men wander the hallways toward their rooms.

Eugene asked, "Was that tone of voice really necessary, sir?"

Kyle calmly replied, "Eugene, I have seen things you can barely imagine. Betrayal is something I will never forget nor forgive so get off my back." Entering his room, Kyle falls onto his bed releasing a big sigh.

He looks out the window to see the stars pass by, wondering what happened on Earth to make the inhabitants colonize other worlds in the span of 100 years. Did some kind of catastrophe trigger it or something more? He believes he will find out during this journey.

A/N: Chapter 3 done.

The ship later named the Nirvana underwent a transformation resulting in the new shape we all know.

Alex saved Barnette and Jura from the elevator.

What caused Kyle's eyes to become glowing red and slit pupils?

He also negotiated with Magno on how they will have Gryphus Squadron's services in battle as long as she or the crew don't betray them.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 4.

Vader 23A


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Value of Teamwork

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

Kyle wakes up after a rejuvenating sleep in his new room, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. He does the usual morning routine of brushing, flossing, showering and change into a fresh set of clothes. They were found in a chest inside a storage area the crew didn't know about until now. They were from the Colonization Era and surprisingly in mint condition. While plain-looking he accepted them discovering they fit his frame well

The attire he's currently wearing consisted of a black T-shirt, blue jeans secured by a belt, white socks and blue shoes with white trimming. After tying the laces, Kyle exits his room.

He, Alex and Eugene are still adapting to the situation they have found themselves in.

They are 800 years into the future, learned that something catastrophic happened back on their home world to make the inhabitants leave Earth and colonize other planets. Well, leaving its cradle on Earth has been mankind's ultimate goal but many challenges thwarted it in the form of financial costs, social issues and other critical areas. They were essentially walking fossils of days long gone.

Anyway, they find themselves in the middle of a gender war between Mejale, an all female planet and Tarak, an all male desert planet. A rather pointless war in Kyle's opinion. Now they are on a ship composed of gorgeous young space pirates led by Magno Vivan despite her being little over 100 years old. There were a few members of the crew Gryphus Squadron and Eugene got along with or at least tolerated. Them being Duero, the bubbly redhead Dita, the bridge bunnies, Mia Gisborn, Gascogne and Jura. However, they still remained cautious around the others. Plus the men were valuable members.

Duero's medical skills made him the ship's doctor.

Bart, despite his whiny attitude, became the helmsman and was rather vocal around Magno and BC.

Hibiki proved himself a natural talent with the Vanguard although it fed his arrogance.

Eugene proved a hard worker and his potential to being a pilot left him with promise.

And finally there was Gryphus Squadron. Their piloting abilities made them a force to be reckoned with though most of the female space pirates didn't approve of Magno's decision to have men part of the crew. However, they couldn't go against their captain's decision so they reluctantly agreed.

Kyle spots Duero approaching from the opposite direction, he nods at the doctor in hello and Duero returns it with a nod of his own. Kyle continues his way toward the cafeteria for breakfast.

Alex comes out of his room having finished changing into a pair of clothes, he woke up earlier to work out. He suddenly hears a scream and pulls out his M9A1 pistol then runs at the direction the scream originated from. He sees Dita being thrown out of the men's restroom.

Dita whined, "How come I can't watch?"

Hibiki replied fiercely, "How am I supposed to go with you watching?!" The door closes afterward.

Alex asked, "What's going on here?"

Dita replied, "Hi, Mr. Irvine. I heard that men have some sort of tube between their legs and I wanted to see it." It didn't take a genius to figure out what Dita was implying to.

Alex said, "You shouldn't evade someone's privacy, Dita."

Dita smiled, "Okay."

'So innocent and naïve. I have no idea how she became a pirate.' Alex thought.

Dita asked, "Have you seen it, Mr. Irvine?"

'Too curious for her own good!' He thought with a sweat drop.

He said, "It'd be best not to know at your age, Dita. You will understand it better when you're older!" He walks away before the redhead could bombard him with more questions.

Elsewhere, Parfet was asking for names to christen the ship.

She spoke through the megaphone, "We all believe the Ikazuchi is a boring name. I am looking for alternative names that will suit the ship better!" Parfet spotted Jura and Barnette approaching and lowered the megaphone to speak normally, "Whoever comes up with the name we decide on will win a whole year's worth of food certificates they can redeem at the Trapeza!"

Jura said in surprised, "A year's worth?! Are you serious, Parfet?!"

Barnette looked at one of the names, "What's this? The 'Nirvana'? That's kind of corny."

Parfet answered, "The commander suggested that one."

Barnette asked, "How are you keeping track of all the names?"

The engineer answered, "I just install them in my friend Pyoro." Barnette and Jura blink.

Jura repeated, "Pyoro?"

The now named robot said, "Ms. Parfet gave me the name. It's a really good choice, ain't it?"

Jura said, "Well, Luxury Night is my contribution. You'll put that in, won't you Pyoro?"

"Luxury Night? Hey, wait!" Pyoro reviewed the name it as Barnette typed it in before leaving with Jura.

Alex said from behind the duo, "Hey Parfet, what's up?"

Parfet turned around, "I have asked people for names to our ship. Do you have any suggestions?"

Alex replied honestly, "I'm horrible at naming things, although the 'Nirvana' does have a nice ring tone to it. Add my vote to it." The engineer does that.

In the infirmary, Duero examines the steady growth process of Ezra's baby projected on the screen.

Duero said, "Peculiar, this doesn't exist in man's physiology."

Ezra replied, "It's called the uterus."

Duero smirked, "A reproductive organ. Very interesting."

Ezra smiled, "I wanted to have a baby, you see. So I decided to carry the seed."

Duero asked, "What's the seed?"

The gentle bridge bunny explained, "It's where take the genes of the person who wants to be an Ohma then splice the genes of the Fahma into it and implant it in her uterus. Where I'm from anyone who wants to be a Fahma can be."

Duero cupped his chin, "Hm, does that mean I can be one?" Ezra looks at him weirdly.

Kyle leaves the cafeteria after eating breakfast which was compiled of eggs, sausage and coffee by the time others show up to eat. He heads for the hanger to study the changes his F-22 went under.

In the men's section of the ship, BC finishes installing data into the message pods.

Magno showed up the screen, _"BC, report."_

BC answered, "I finished inputting the data."

Magno observed another pod,_ "Why is there an extra pod?"_

BC replied, "This one's meant for Tarak, captain. I thought it'd be fair to let them know as well."

Magno nodded, _"Very well. Launch the pods!"_ BC presses the button that send the pods on their way.

However, they don't get far because they get destroyed and cube-types were detected.

On the bridge, Magno ordered, "All hands, level 1 battle stations!" The Dread pilots rush to the hanger, Meia arrives to see Dita staring out to space.

Meia said, "Didn't you hear the alarm, Dita? Get into your Dread!"

Dita exclaimed, "It's just that Kyle flew out of here. Just like that, whoosh!" She spins like a ballerina to emphasize it.

Jura stated in surprise, "You mean he's out there already?"

Eugene assured, "Don't worry, Gryphus 1 knows what he's doing." Out in space, Gryphus 1 accelerates toward the cube-types.

He fires the Raptor's Vulcan Gatling cannon tearing one cube-type apart and somersaults to avoid a joint attack by the fallen cube-type's comrades. Switching to special weapons, Gryphus 1 fires 2 XLAAM at the remaining enemies and destroys them.

'Strange. I was expecting them to send more, must have been a recon unit.' He thought.

He contacted the bridge, "Gryphus 1 here. I was able to destroy the enemy, apparently it was a recon unit sent to scout our ship's capabilities. However, I was able to stop them before they could return with the data."

Magno said, _"I see. Return to the ship."_ Gryphus 1 lowers the landing gear and flaps, lining up with the hanger floor and steadily brings the stealth fighter in. The back tires touch down first then he levels the plane out and applies the speak break. The fighter's speed decreases until it comes to a complete stop.

The canopy opens up and Kyle looks down to see Dita standing away from a fuming Meia.

Kyle asked, "Something wrong?"

Meia spoke with barely restrained anger, "Don't act like that. You put yourself in a lot of danger by doing that, you are to act under my direct orders." Kyle slides down the ladder and calmly removes his helmet.

Kyle said, "Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard the captain say all hands to battle stations including the pilots."

Meia snorted, "Small dogs always bark the loudest."

'This is pointless. Does she think he'll fall for that?' Eugene thought.

Kyle explained, "That was a recon unit sent to scout our ship's abilities, I engaged them not only to prevent them returning with the information but to also conserve the limited amount of fuel and supplies we have at the moment. If it was an invading force, I would have waited for the other pilots to come out."

Meia seethed, "You are just a male, not a member of the crew!"

The Aurelian's face remained expressionless, "That's where you are wrong. The captain made it abundantly clear that Alex, Duero, Bart, Hibiki, Eugene and myself are part of this crew. You heard her yourself so accept the fact that we are all in this together." He spots her fist shaking in anger and the way her posture showed that Meia's struggling to keep her anger in check he must have unintentionally struck a nerve.

Dita's hands were shaking from the suspense between the two pilots.

Meia rushes forward, fist cocked back and thrusts it at Kyle's face but the Aurelian catches it, pulls Meia in and trips her. Meia rolls on the floor and gets up to charge at Kyle, throwing punches and kicks that Kyle either blocks or sidesteps them. One of her kicks hit Kyle's left arm, a painful throb occurs in her foot. Once Kyle saw Meia losing energy he quickly outmaneuvers her and points his wrist blade near Meia's throat daring her to continue. A few agonizing minutes tick by until Kyle sensed that Meia had calmed down enough for him to get off. Looking around he can see the Dread pilots staring at him with open jaw expressions. They couldn't believe that Kyle defeated Meia who was considered the best in close quarters combat. Little do they know that Kyle was trained by an undisputed master of armed and unarmed combat.

He arrives at the bridge in time to hear Hibiki talking to Magno.

Hibiki said, "Can you get that alien obsessed girl to quit bugging me?"

Magno answered, "That must be Dita you're talking about."

Hibiki ordered, "Also do something about that creepy woman with that strange thing over her eye. Tell her not to get involved in man's business!" Bart was listening in on the conversation.

He commented, "Negotiations aren't one of his strong points."

Magno thought for a moment before answering, "Okay then, how about I transfer you to the Reg crew?"

Hibiki raised an eyebrow, "Reg crew?"

Magno smirked, "It's an interesting job and under different management."

Hibiki shrugged, "Okay, I'll give it a shot."

Once he was gone, Magno asked, "Does that satisfy you?"

Meia appeared on the screen, _"Thank you very much, captain. Having a man like him is extremely dangerous and could bring down the morale of the crew."_

Magno said, "Got something else on your mind, Meia? I might be over 100 years old but I am well aware that something else is bothering you."

Meia offered, _"With your permission, I would like to have Gryphus Squadron transferred to Dread Squadron. I feel it inadequate for it to stay a two-man squad. I haven't seen that newest male in action so I don't know about him. Having Kyle around is so...infuriating. He ignores orders and doesn't watch his back."_

The pirate leader shook her head, "Hate to break it to you but I can't do that."

Meia blinked in surprise, _"Why? You're the captain."_

Magno explained, "I didn't create Gryphus Squadron, the military leader in their dimension created it. No offense but I doubt Alex or Eugene would take orders from you, Meia. They trust Kyle with their lives and he has proven to be an excellent squadron leader and has saved lives. I have made my decision. End of story."

Meia sighed in defeat, _"Understood, captain."_ The screen closes and Magno sighs.

She rubbed her forehead, "That woman. She's as stubborn as ever."

Bart mumbled, "I'll never understand women."

Magno shouted, "How long are you going to continue eavesdropping?" Bart jumps into the helm typing a bunch of buttons to engage the autopilot before telling Magno he's going on break.

Kyle walks toward the shooting area, his one-sided bout with Meia made him conclude that she's arrogant like he was at one point. During his earlier days as a fighter pilot he believed he was better than anyone else, feeding his arrogance. However, a mock battle between him and his teacher caused him to reconsider his skills in turn made him conquer his arrogance.

'What gives her the right to judge me or my friends?' Kyle thought.

Entering the shooting room, Kyle pulls out his pistol and spots Jura watching her friend Barnette shoot targets.

Kyle greeted, "Hello, girls." The two women turn their heads to see Kyle approaching an empty spot.

Jura smiled, "Ah, you must be Kyle Masterson that Alex told me about. Nice to meet you, I'm Jura Basil Elden and the girl standing to my left is my friend Barnette." Kyle waves at Barnette who gives an unfriendly glare in return. He ignores it and presses the button and cocks the gun.

Barnette and Jura look on as Kyle shoots down the targets one after the other in quick succession, occasionally loading a new magazine into the pistol and resume firing until destroying the last one. Smoke emanates from the barrel until Kyle blows it away then puts the gun in the holster after turning the safety on.

Barnette couldn't help but ask, "How...how did you shoot them all without missing a shot?"

Kyle answered, "Practice. Lots and lots of practice. I am certain you honed your marksmanship skills the same way, right?" Alex searches for Hibiki until he reaches Reg Central, the door slides open to show Hibiki dressed in the same outfit the stagehands wear. Alex bursts out laughing.

Hibiki exclaimed, "Stop laughing, damn it! This isn't funny!" That only makes Alex laugh harder to the point where his sides began to hurt.

He wiped a tear away and calmed down, "Sorry but you look so funny in that outfit." He spotted the Reg leader walking towards them, "Ah, I take it you're the leader of this place?"

Gascogne nodded, "That's right."

Alex asked, "What do you do here exactly?"

The Reg leader replied, "Our job is to supply the Dreads with ammo and make sure the pilots come back alive. We're the people who work behind the scenes, so to speak. Anyway, there's something I want to show you. Come with me." Gascogne leads them to the supply depot.

Alex whistled, "Wow, quite a stockpile you have there."

Gascogne smirked, "This is where we keep our weapons reserve. Think you can handle that? You'll be in charge of overseeing distribution of the weaponry. Oh yeah, Alex your friend Eugene Solono discovered a supply cache of "Swarm Missiles" today."

Alex titled his head, "Swarm Missiles? What can they do?"

The Reg leader said, "Judging by the information he managed to uncover they start out as a single missile but halfway to the target they open, releasing their payload of many missiles."

Alex concluded, "So they initially start out like the first stage of a rocket that discards the part halfway into flight."

Gascogne nodded, "That about sums it up. It's really effective against large groups of enemies. Eugene's been a great help around here, says it keeps him from getting bored."

Hibiki sulked, "I suppose but it leads me back to where I began, just maintaining a machine."

Gascogne looked at him, "Hm?"

Hibiki told her, "Look, I came here to prove myself and now you're saying I have to go back to that shitty place?"

Gascogne smiled, "So you are one of us. There's something else I want to show you, follow me." Elsewhere, Parfet opens a door and an avalanche of pellets pour out, burying her and Pyoro in them.

Parfet asked, "What is this stuff?"

Pyoro informed, "This is the food of Tarak."

The lead engineer cried, "Men eat this?"

Pyoro freed himself, "One tablet provides enough nutrition to ensure 300 hours of labor."

Dita saw them and asked, "Hey Parfet, do you know where Mr. Alien went?"

Parfet answered, "I heard he's been transferred to Reg Central."

Dita blinked, "To Reg? What's that you're holding?"

Parfet held the pellet up, "Apparently this is what the men eat." The redhead puts one in her mouth and regrets it because the pellet tasted horrible.

Dita grimaced, "I can't believe they eat this stuff, poor Mr. Alien." She got up as an idea formed, "I know!"

Parfet asked, "What about a name for the ship?"

Dita said, "How about Roswell?" Back at Reg, Gascogne shows Alex, Eugene and Hibiki a holographic image of a city on Mejale.

Hibiki asked, "So this is the women's planet? Don't you think it looks kind of gaudy?"

Gascogne nodded, "Sure do. It's a real clean and beautiful place but I hate how everything's super efficient. Mejale is a world where everyone's friendly and having a good time but that's only the surface most of the women of Mejale love being showoffs, competing with their neighbor over who has a better garden. They waste energy on trivial matters like that and because of it one of our living units had shut down. Our captain had nowhere else to go so she started up this pirate gig with all of us." The image switched to a pirate crew raiding a ship, "For pirates like us, there's no difference between men and women that's why we spared your lives. If we were the Mejalian Army you would've been dead before you could spill out the world please." Multiple explosions destroy the ship from within as the footage ends.

Hibiki gulps before Gascogne pushes him forward.

She span the projection ball on her finger, "As far as I'm concerned you are just like us, you have nowhere else to go. The number one rule onboard this ship is that we all got to work to eat, you can complain all you want but make sure your work's done first."

Hibiki asked, "So what am I supposed to do?"

Gascogne shoved a mop at him, "Just put a smile on your face."

Hibiki grabbed the mop, "Whatever." The ship's radar detects a new enemy.

Amarone stated, "Scans have picked up a new enemy 3,000Gr."

Magno asked, "They're certainly in a hurry today. How many?"

Ezra stated, "Only one."

Amarone informed, "Distance 2,500Gr and closing." Bart runs through the door and heads for the helm, complaining about why the ship had to be so huge.

Magno told him, "Show us what you can do."

Bart looked over his shoulder, "I'll show my specialty: Running away!"

Magno smirked, "Sounds like you."

Once inside the helm, Bart chuckled, "Heh heh, I'll take us to the end of the universe if I have to!" He fires up the engines and the ship moves, the new enemy swiftly catches up and swings around to appear in front of them, prompting Bart to apply the brakes.

Magno narrowed her eyes, "What are they up to?" Bart boosts to the right and the sphere does the same thing, boosting to the left the sphere performs the same maneuver.

Ezra stated, "The enemy has maintained a fair distance from us."

Magno ordered, "Bart, stay on course. Launch the Dreads, prepare for combat!"

Inside her Dread, Dita rubbed the wrapped box when Meia suddenly asked, _"Where were you?"_

Dita asked, "Something wrong, Meia?"

Meia scolded, _"This isn't a game, Dita. Being late can mean the difference between life and death!"_

Dita replied, "I'm sorry."

Meia ordered, _"We're going to try an attack formation, you got that? Focus on the battle!"_

The redhead saluted, "Roger." Hibiki rushes toward the exit of Reg Central when Gascogne catches him and drops the lad in a chair, placing a restraining cuff around it effectively keeping Hibiki secured.

Gryphus 1 lines up with the hanger exit and accelerates and raises the landing gear after entering the area of combat, Gryphus 2 took off shortly after that Crux joined him with his new aircraft: The E-3 Sentry II.

The E-3 Sentry II is a scaled down, more efficient version of the original E-3.

In addition to maintaining its AWACS role, it has the capability of a multi-purpose aircraft, giving it a top speed of Mach 2.20 slightly under the F-22. The radar normally in front of the tail section that'd be a major target to enemy fighters was no longer present, its highly advanced radar system inside the cockpit made up for it and twin Pratt & Whitney turbofans propelled it through the battlefield. Offensively it was armed with AMRAAM missiles, AIM-9M Sidewinders and twin M61A2 Vulcan 6-barrel Gatling cannons in both sides of the nose. Defensively it's equipped with chaff and flares to shake off missiles, ECM to disrupt enemy radar, sonar or other tracking systems and a device that emits an electromagnetic pulse that disables all electronic equipment. The range can be adjusted on a console located near the joystick, quite useful to make a quick getaway.

The sphere remained stationary making the crew wonder what's it waiting for.

They get their answer when the main Dreads appear and the sphere begins to move, tentacles pop out of the many holes on its body that turn into jagged spikes.

Jura cringed, "A s-sea urchin? Are we seriously gonna fight that thing?"

Meia ordered, "Calm down, Jura. All teams, check your position. Commence the attack!" The Dreads swarm in as the sea urchin's spikes begin to turn

Barnette fires a pair of missiles at it but the spikes act like a shield, protecting it from harm.

Jura asked, "Those needles block our shots. Now what?" The enemy makes an attack run on the crew's ship.

Ezra gasped, "It's gonna hit us!"

Magno barked, "Young man!"

Bart replied, "I'm trying!" He tries to maneuver the ship but the sea urchin was too quick, its spikes grind against the ship's hull then comes around, damaging the left wing and Bart gets a cut on his arm.

The sea urchin targets Gryphus Squadron and the pilots fly through the valley of spikes with skill. However, the enemy pulls a surprise when the spikes become pointed and every one of them were launched at the squad. Taken by surprise the Aurelians take evasive action, the spikes rocket past them. Executing a hard left turn, Gryphus Squadron arms their special weapons and fire the missiles roar past Mach 2. The spikes regenerate and block the missiles.

Crux said, "Are you kidding me? That thing can replenish its spikes that quickly?"

Gryphus 1 cried, "Calm down, Crux. Getting frustrated won't help the situation." Radar warning blared inside his cockpit, "Looks like our target brought some friends." Appearing out of the blackness of space was a giant formation of F/A-18E Super Hornets closing in from 12 o'clock.

Crux mumbled, "Oh, shit." Out of the corner of his eye, he spots his squad mates selecting the XLAAM and fires 4 of them at the enemy formation, the targeted fighters turn into fireballs lighting up space.

Gryphus Squadron flies into the swarm, mowing down every single F/A-18E Super Hornet in sight until Gryphus 1 takes evasive action to avoid spikes being launched at him by the sea urchin. Fortunately the spikes weren't guided so he didn't have to worry about them following him.

He retaliates with the M61A2 Vulcan Gatling cannon but like before the spikes regenerate and deflect the bullets. The missile warning sounds and Gryphus 1 releases chaff to jam the radar of an AMRAAM fired by one of the few surviving F/A-18Es and U-turns to get behind the Super Hornet responsible for that missile and fires a Sidewinder on it blowing the plane to smithereens. The sea urchin fires its spikes at Gryphus 1 but this time around he meets them head-on. The wings glow yellow and extend to 6 feet in length, taking on their bladed appearance. He called this attack "Wings of Judgment". The F-22 barrel rolls becoming a tornado of light. The blades cut the spikes into pieces before exploding, Gryphus 1 ignites the afterburners hoping he can eviscerate the sea urchin before its spikes grew back. This never happened because they replenish the ones shot at him so Gryphus 1 had to cancel his attack run and banks right to avoid the jagged spikes.

Crux releases flares to shake off an AIM-9M Sidewinder then somersaults to dodge 20mm bullets from the enemy's Vulcan Gatling cannon. He arms the AMRAAM and waits for the missile lock to turn red and fires, the radar-guided missile rapidly closes the distance to the target and rips the Super Hornet apart. The missile warning sounds and Crux looks both ways to see two AMRAAM missiles coming towards his plane and at the last second dives rapidly in turn causing the missiles to collide. The E-3 Sentry II's sleek design allows it to turn hard right with ease and shoots down the enemy fighters.

Gryphus 1 spots the surviving F/A-18Es in full afterburner racing to their home, images of people screaming, the piercing noise of bombs falling and explosions going on flash through his mind.

He narrowed his eyes, "I won't allow the past repeat itself! I refuse to let these people get slaughtered by you scrap heaps." Lighting up the Raptor's afterburners, Gryphus 1 races to catch up to the Super Hornets.

Selecting the XLAAM he gains a lock and fires all 4 missiles at the enemy fighters.

Barnette fires her Dread's missiles at the sea urchin but the purple sphere uses its tremendous speed to avoid them.

She said, "Damn, that thing's too fast!"

Dita contacted her leader, "Hey Meia, let's call out the alien."

Meia retorted, "No. He's our enemy because he's a man!"

Dita frowned, "But he's a good alien!"

Meia fired back hotly, "What have I told you about relying on others? This is our battle, we fight on our own!" She barrel rolled through gunfire, "We can do this. I don't need a man's help!"

'She's letting her pride get the best of her.' Gryphus 1 thought.

Inside Reg Central, Hibiki struggled to get out of his seat, "Don't fly like that! Come on, get me out of this!" He feels the restraints come off and looks over his shoulder to see Gascogne holding the remote to the restraints.

She held out her hand, "Come on, it's time for you to see what we stagehands do." They board the Reg delivery ship and the vessel accelerates through space.

The arms attached to the underside of the delivery ship grab hold of the Dreads.

Gascogne said, "Resupply commencing, let's finish this in one go." The screen in front of her shows Gascogne the progress of the resupply, the pilots watch in satisfaction.

Hibiki gasped, "Watch out!" Gascogne changes the angle of her ship so that the armored part takes the impact of the sea urchin's jagged spikes.

The young pilot asked, "This is what you guys do?"

Gascogne answered, "I told you the pilots aren't out there on their own." The screen showed the progress reach 100%, "Delivery complete. Give them hell, girls!" The Dreads return to battle.

Hibiki noticed something, "Hold on, there's still one left."

Gascogne smirked, "Oh, is that so? Well, we brought it out here so we'd might as well use it!" Hibiki hops into his Vanguard and joins the battle.

Gryphus 1 combines his F-22 with Mia's Dread to create Amaterasu and the machine aims its twin-barreled plasma rifle, the beams charge up and is let loose at the oncoming cube-types. The targets disintegrate from the beams' energy. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches the Vanguard get clipped by the spike and unintentionally flying toward Meia's Dread.

Meia started, "There's no way..."

Hibiki finished, "...I'm gonna let this thing beat me!" The same bright light appears and the Vanguard lands inside a compartment on the Dread and the machine flips over, flexing its talons and a visor opens to show aqua green eyes.

The Vandread resembled a silver eagle.

Barnette gasped, "Did you see that?"

Jura cupped her face in awe, "It's so cool!" Inside the Vandread, the pilots come to and Hibiki's back comes into contact with Meia's breasts, shocking them.

Hibiki barked, "What do you think you're doing?"

Meia pushed him, "What do you think you're doing in here? I never asked for your help so get off me!"

Hibiki retorted, "News flash, if I could I would have!" The cockpit shook as the Vandread got struck by the spike, "We don't have time for this." They grasp the control spheres and the new Vandread races through space, its speed allowing it to keep pace with the sea urchin.

Barnette commented, "That acceleration's incredible!"

Hibiki groaned from the speed, "I don't know how much longer I can withstand this!"

Meia asked him, "You sure complain a lot, do you?"

Hibiki answered, "Shut up. It's the proof that I'm still here."

Meia said, "Let's see how long that remains true." She presses her foot down on the thrust pedal putting the Vandread's speed to maximum output.

It weaves through the volley of spikes and gets behind the sea urchin. A blue-green aura envelops the Vandread and it charges toward the sea urchin, plowing right through it and emerging through the other side. Its eyes glow as the enemy explodes.

Gascogne closed her eyes, smirking and arms crossed, "I guess it's safe to say you're not meant to be part of the stagehands." Inside Vandread Meia, the pilots breathe heavily after the battle.

Hibiki said, "Man, it's a real mess out there."

Meia cried, "Never we'd agree on anything. Do you understand now? You can't win every battle with just your Vanguard."

Hibiki told her, "The same thing goes for you and your Dread, don't you think?" Meia doesn't answer but she understood that he had a point.

The pilots return to the ship now that the enemy's defeated.

Dita whined, "This is so unfair! Mr. Alien was supposed to combine only with me."

Jura said, "You know something? If the Vanguard combined with me, my Dread might become something elegant too. Awesome!" The fighters land one by one and power down the engines.

Eugene exits the E-3 Sentry II and removes his helmet, looking up he sees Kyle walking up to him.

Kyle commented, "You did great for your first dogfight, Eugene. With a little more training you could become a formidable fighter pilot." Alex hid a smile at the look on Eugene's face getting a praise from Kyle was considered an honor because it's sort of hard to impress him.

Later that day, it was time to rename the ship.

Magno asked, "The ship's name?"

Parfet said through the screen on Pyoro, _"Yes, we compiled a list of names and we want you to choose one of them."_

Magno smiled, "You want me to choose?"

Parfet nodded, _"Just as long as you pick a fancy one."_ Her face gets replaced by the name list.

Magno looked through it until one name caught her eye, "Hm, the 'Nirvana'. Not a bad suggestion, whose idea was it?"

Pyoro smiled, "It was the commander's idea and Alex added his vote to it."

Magno announced proudly, "Then it's decided. From now on this ship will be called the Nirvana!"

Parfet appeared on the screen and sighed, _"I should've known."_ Hibiki returns to the brig and sits down on his bed.

He said, "That woman's a pain in the ass."

Bart knelt, holding a pellet out, "Cheer up. Have one of these."

Hibiki frowned, "Not really interested."

Bart blinked, "Really?" Dita came in and flicked the pellet away, "What'd you do that for?" Dita opens the box lunch she made and Pyoro holds Hibiki's mouth open for the redhead to place some of the food in and the white robot forcibly makes him chew and swallow.

Hibiki donned a comical look on his face, "What is this stuff?"

Dita asked, "You like it?" Hibiki grabs the boxed lunch and devours the rest like there was no tomorrow.

The redhead clasped her hands together, "Mr. Alien, can you combine only with me? Please?"

Hibiki paused to answer, "Would you stop calling that?" The black-haired teen licked the remains out of the box.

Parfet launches the new message pods. All the crew can do now is pray that the pods will reach their home planets.

A/N: Chapter 4 done.

I decided to give Eugene an updated, more efficient version of the E-3 Sentry. As described it can be used as multi-role aircraft, not just for AWACS purposes.

Kyle didn't fall for Meia's attempt of entering a verbal exchange with her and the resulting potential fist fight didn't go well. He could seriously hurt Meia if he wanted but chose not to.

Kyle, Alex and Eugene are getting along with some of the crew but still cautious around the others.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 5.

Vader 23A


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Tension

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

As the Nirvana continues its journey back to Tarak/Mejale territory, it comes across a desert planet.

Inside the conference room, BC and Magno study it.

Magno said, "This planet appears to be dead."

BC suggested, "I believe we should conduct a ground investigation we might gain some information about our enemy."

Magno closed her eyes to contemplate her answer and opened them to look at her second in command, "I'm not concerned about you going, BC it's the others I'm worried about." The platinum-haired woman understands her concern. The crew was still adjusting to the men being among them however, two people had Magno on edge: Meia and Kyle.

Ever since their little encounter prior to engaging the sea urchin, Meia's attitude toward Kyle Masterson went from cold to downright hostile. She tried pulling rank or put him in his place but Kyle countered saying that he was a squadron leader like her and while he doesn't completely trust her, he will protect the crew including her along with Alex and Eugene. At one point Meia challenged Kyle to a fist fight but Kyle refused saying that it'd serve no purpose and she would make a fool out of herself, all the while donning a stoic expression something that irked the Dread leader to no end. Yet a small part of her wanted to know more about the mysterious pilot that is Kyle Masterson.

After that confrontation Kyle decides to run an analysis on his F-22 Raptor to see what changes it underwent. What he found took him by surprise. In addition to having the ability to combine with the Dreads, the F-22 could turn sharper than before, its engine output had increased dramatically making it possibly the fastest aircraft in this alternate universe, the ammo capacity for his stealth fighter's weapons increased by 50% enabling him to stay in battle longer.

Hibiki finished up maintenance on the Vanguard and closed the hatch, sighing, "These women are slave drivers, aren't they partner? Man, they don't understand how hard this is." Dita sneaks up the stairs and shoots a heart at him, causing Hibiki to lose his footing and fall on the platform.

He sighed again, "Maybe I'm not eating right."

Dita walked up to him, "Are you okay?" Little did Hibiki know he had a nice view up Dita's skirt making him uncomfortable for some reason and he gulps.

The Tarak teen gets up and makes his way to the infirmary where Duero places sensors on his face.

Hibiki felt Duero's hand travel up his thigh and smacked it away, "What do you think you're doing?"

Duero answered calmly, "Examining you, that's all." Alex, who was with Duero, gives the doctor a look that said "What the fuck are you talking about"?

Hibiki hugged his legs, "Keep your hands to yourself!" He backs up when Duero comes closer.

Duero studied him, "You seem exhausted."

The Vanguard pilot sighed, "Well, going out there and fighting side by side with the women is no picnic, doc. Of course I'm tired someone has to protect them."

Duero smirked, "So you're fighting out there to protect the women, is that it?"

Hibiki twiddled with his fingers, "Well, it's more complicated than that. I'm stronger than they are...and since the women are weak..." His pulse rate increases as a result.

Duero suggested, "Let's stop talking about the females."

Paiway popped out of nowhere, "What's this? A video game?"

Duero asked her in surprise, "You've never seen a pulse meter? They're pretty common on Tarak."

Paiway replied, "What's it to you if I haven't? Anyway, all health problems can be fixed in the jacuzzi!"

Duero repeated, "Ja-cuzzi?" Inside the mentioned place Jura was being attended to by a bunch of therapists.

Jura said, "Space combat always damages my hair."

One therapist told her, "Don't worry. I'm here to revitalize your beauty, Jura."

Jura smiled, "Thanks, I don't want to fight unless I'm at my finest." She then noticed her leader sitting in the bath, "Hey Meia, are you trying to lose some more weight?"

Meia answered, "Excess body fat gets in the way of combat."

The blonde-haired pilot joked, "But you won't have any breasts left at this rate."

Meia smiled, "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself, Jura." At the cafeteria, Dita looks over the meals being displayed on the conveyor belt until she selects the one Barnette was going to have.

She made her displeasure known, "Dita, that's loaded with calories!"

Dita smiled, "That's all right, Barnette. He told me he wasn't eating right." The redhead leaves as Barnette blinks in confusion.

Video screens popped up as Belvedere said, "Heat signatures confirmed."

Ezra informed, "There's a sand storm raging so I can't really tell but there appears to be an artificial structure."

BC suggested, "Let's send a ground team, there might something worthwhile down on the surface."

Magno sighed, "Our kitchen is running low on supplies." She donned a smile on her face, "Oh well, we'll have to do things like old fashion pirates."

BC nodded with a smile, "Thank you, captain. Begin monitoring weather, let's decide the best time to send out a party!"

Belvedere responded, "Roger." Kyle walks through the hallway when he hears the PA system beep.

BC said through it, _"Attention crew. We're going to investigate a planet, all available pilots will begin simulation training onboard the Vanguards."_

Inside the infirmary Hibiki sat up, "What?! Women are going to be using the Van-Types?" At the hanger, the assigned pilots watch the engineers paint the Vanguards all bunch of colors. Some were a single color while other had mixed color schemes. One had a rainbow color scheme, much to Alex's chagrin. He can understand the battleship gray color was dull but the engineers didn't have to go overboard with the paint.

Barnette groaned, "I know it's impossible to get to the surface with the Dreads but still doesn't mean I like using a Vanguard." She brings up a valid point. While the Dreads were designed for space combat they were never designed for surface operations like the upcoming mission.

Jura looked at the red Vanguard, "I don't care what turns out just as long as turns into something beautiful." Bart appears out of nowhere and tells the pilots some made up story of him being involved with the development of the Vanguards, something that Gryphus Squadron didn't buy. Bart's little story telling gets cut short when a lift collides with his head knocking the helmsman to the ground.

An engineer scolded, "What do you think you're doing? Some of us are trying to work so stay out of the way!"

Bart answered in a dazed voice, "Okay." Alex places a hand over his mouth to stifle the laughter threatening to escape.

Hibiki rushes through the door and spots Dita about to spray his Vanguard with a paint spot.

He shouted, "Wait!" He jumped in the way of the paint and half of his body got covered in paint before he get got up, shooting a glare at Dita, "What do you think you're doing?"

Dita said starry-eyed, "Wow, a pink alien! How cute!"

Hibiki sighed, "She's nuts." Alex lost control of himself and rolled around on the floor laughing his ass off, the crew members in the hanger look at him like he finally lost it. Alex waves their concern off saying that he's perfectly sane.

Throughout the course of the simulation training, results came out.

Alex and Kyle completed the training without problems thanks to their experience as combat pilots, Eugene struggled throughout the simulation but he's steadily getting better, Jura and Barnette surprisingly got the hang of it.

They were currently simulating a space battle and they had trouble with the controls since there was no gravity in space.

Jura growled in frustration, "I've had enough! What's wrong with this thing? Why can't it move with more elegance? I'm out of here!" She pushes the button to open the simulation pod.

Hibiki, Duero, Pyoro and Kyle from the observation room.

Pyoro asked her, "Don't you need permission?"

Jura replied, _"Oh, shut up!"_

Duero stated, "Guess I'll be needed on the bridge."

Hibiki said, "See? There's no way a woman can ever pilot a Van-type." That earned him a smack on the back of his head from Alex, "What was that for?"

Alex informed him, "These women haven't piloted a Vanguard in their lives, Hibiki so don't judge them needlessly. Give them time and practice and they can master the Vanguards." Kyle along with Duero notice Meia's vital signs higher than normal. She was breathing heavily, sweating and looked withdrawn and frightened. Kyle concluded these signs meant one thing: Meia has claustrophobia, fear of enclosed spaces.

The simulation screen showed "Died in combat, simulation over". Meia slams her fist against the wall and panted as sweat dripped from her face.

Duero appeared on a screen, _"Are there medical overrides on Mejale?" _Meia looked at his image,_ "On Tarak, doctors have the authority to ground pilots when they're in situations like yours. Do you want that?"_

Meia retorted, "Of course not!" She hated the idea of this man thinking Meia was weak.

Duero said, _"In that case, I recommend you switch your pit monitor to full screen that will help reduce the stress to your body."_

Meia fired back, "Keep your advice to yourself. I don't anyone's help least of all you. I'll be fine, thank you very much!" Kyle shakes his head, this woman's pride was proving to be her Achilles heel. He needs to do something before that costs Meia her life. He exits the observation room and Duero follows him.

Bart read an instruction book, "Let's see. 'How to use the ten in one knife shield'. Following the will of the pilot in sync with the electronic pulse beam." He closed the book, "Oh, I can do this!"

Hibiki yawned and said to him, "Whatever. Just keep doing whatever it is you're doing." He suddenly finds himself buried in-between Jura's breasts.

She purred seductively, "Hello there. The next time we go out, you'll combine with me. Hope you keep that in mind." She leaves allowing Hibiki to breathe again.

He blinked in confusion, "What was that about?"

'If only that kid knew. Most men would die happy from having their faces sandwiched between a woman's breasts.' Alex thought in amusement.

Duero arrives in the simulation room in time to see the pod open, Meia rested against her arms as she struggles to get her breathing under control.

The young doctor said, "The change of your pulse rate seemed to have originated from something psychosomatic in nature. Do you know what could have caused it?"

Meia smirked, "Your observation couldn't be more wrong. It's obviously fatigue, doctor."

Duero narrowed his eye slightly, "An adamant denial. This case is rather serious."

Meia stood up, "It's just fatigue!" She struggled to exit the pod and almost fell over and refused Duero's help, glaring at him, "There's nothing I hate more than nosy people." She walks away.

Pyoro sighed, "I guess I'll never understand humans."

Duero said, "But that's why they are so interesting, don't you agree?"

The white robot shook its head, "Not really."

Duero smirked, "Fighting primal instincts, keeping desires restrained, humans are the only ones who can do that. They truly are fascinating creatures." Meia nears the exit door when she sees Kyle leaning against some stacked crates looking at her with serious eyes. For a moment, Meia finds herself being unnerved by those intense blue-gray eyes of his before she snaps back to normal.

Meia asked, "What do you want?"

Kyle answered, "You better sit this mission out, Meia. If you went on this mission you'll wound up getting yourself killed."

Meia retorted, "If this is about the simulation, it was only fatigue, Kyle!" She forced his name out with spite which Kyle noticed.

The Aurelian calmly stated, "You're horrible at lying, Meia. You perform exceptionally well inside your Dread because it's more open spaced but within the confines of a Vanguard's cockpit you freeze up. You have claustrophobia. Deny all you want but the fact is your fear of enclosed spaces will only put the ground team in jeopardy. That's why I recommend you sit this mission out, not only for the safety of the ground team but for your own as well. Heed my advice, Meia." Kyle turns around to exit the simulation room.

Hibiki popped up on a screen, _"Old lady, you there?"_

From her seat on the bridge, Magno replied, "There's an old lady right here. What is it, little one?"

Hibiki barked, _"Tell all your people to stop messing with the Van-types! I mean this is really starting to annoy me. Anyway..."_ He panics at the sound of Dita's voice and cut the transmission short.

BC blinked in confusion while Magno chuckled, "Ironic, ain't it? It's gotten livelier ever since we captured those men." In the nirvana's garden, Dita watches Hibiki eat one of her boxed lunches she made earlier, when Hibiki sensed her watching he changes his direction but Dita mirrors it.

Hibiki asked, "What are you looking at?"

Dita shook her head, "Nothing, I just want to watch you." Satisfied he resumed eating while Dita smiled, "Seeing you eat that makes me happy." Paiway snaps a couple of pictures from her hiding spot in the bushes and later speaks with Jura who was showering.

Paiway said, "The funny thing was that he was under Dita's control, all because of one boxed lunch."

Jura purred, "I see." Barnette wore an apron to replace her shoulder pads as she applied some sauce to the steak being cooked in the pan.

Barnette angrily asked, "That's it? That's the reason I'm doing this cooking?"

Jura examined her fingernails, "It's so I can combine. You love me when I'm beautiful, don't you Barnette?"

'What an amazing world you live in, Jura.' Barnette thought.

She spotted a bottle of fiery hot sauce and an evil smile formed on her face, secretly applying it to the steak, "There we go, all done." She places the food a platter then on a food cart.

Jura smiled, "That's why I love you, Barnette. Let's hurry up and find him, I can't wait to see the look on his face."

'Neither can I!' Barnette thought.

Alex enters the kitchen in time to see Bart spewing fire from his mouth, looking at the frying pan he suspects the helmsman must have eaten a piece of the steak that had the fiery hot sauce on it resulting in the puffy red lips he had. Feeling sorry for the man, he grabs a glass and opens the fridge to grab a carton of milk. Next he fills the glass and hands it to Bart, the man looks hesitant.

Alex said, "Drink that, Bart it will help douse the inferno you're feeling at the moment. I do the same thing when I eat something spicy." Taking his words to heart, Bart chugs the milk down and to his surprise he feels the heat fading.

Bart looked at the pilot in surprise, "Huh, it actually worked! Thank you, Alex." Now he has to find some way to return his lips to normal. He exits the kitchen by the time Dita enters with a pair of ice cream cones in hand and Ezra emerges from the storage area holding some lemons. Alex took one of the cones Dita offered to him and starts eating it, feeling that cursed brain freeze happen. To counter this, he put his tongue up to the upper jawline inside his mouth. The relief is automatic, the icy sting dies off (I was shocked when told this but it actually works).

Ezra commented, "Men sure are weird."

Dita noticed the lemons, "Why do you have those, Ezra?"

The gentle bridge bunny admitted, "I've had the craving for something sour lately." Dita dons a cute look on her face while Alex chuckles, he knows the craving was part of Ezra's pregnancy.

After eating the cone, Alex wiped his mouth before saying, "I'm sure you will have a healthy baby, Ezra. Your mother would be proud of you."

Ezra smiled brightly, "Thank you, Alex." The alarm sounds, signaling to begin the mission. Dita throws her uneaten ice cream cone in the sink and heads for the hanger to join the others. Alex and Eugene decided to stay on the Nirvana should the enemy choose to attack the ship.

Kyle leads the ground team toward the desert planet in his black Vanguard, Jura, Barnette and Dita rode an entry vehicle similar to a bobsled.

Jura said, "I'm not letting you get away that easily."

Dita told her, "The only person Mr. Alien is going to combine with is me!"

Jura fired back, "You be quiet!"

Barnette hung her head, "Hopeless." The leading Vanguards point their re-entry shields in front of him to deflect the superheated gases created by friction, once through the atmosphere the heat shields turn into umbrellas to slow their rate of descent the bobsled the other members used disengages and they deploy their umbrellas. The boosters activate to soften their landing, however only Barnette and Gryphus 1 touch down correctly as the others land on their backs or in the case of Hibiki crashes into a sand hill.

Meia arrives in hanger too late for the mission.

Pyoro said, "Don't push yourself! Won't they be okay without you, Meia?"

Meia replied, "This shouldn't have happened. I'm responsible for all of them including Kyle!"

Pyoro informed with regret, "But the drop ship was made for one use only, there aren't no more."

Meia's eyes widened, "What?" Back on the desert planet's surface, the recon team survey the place.

Jura said in a bored tone, "This place looks deserted, huh?"

Barnette agreed, "There was no reason for Meia to come with us." Gryphus 1's gut was telling him a different story. The scanners onboard the Nirvana picked up signatures on the surface but they couldn't see anything worthwhile. No structure, nothing.

Dita said in awe, "Wow, look at this sand!"

Hibiki told her, "Wait, don't you go on your own." His Vanguard loses its footing on the sand and trips, sliding down the sand dune before coming to rest.

Dita asked in concern, "Mr. Alien, are you okay?"

Hibiki groaned, "Come to think of it, this is my first time using my Vanguard on land. I feel pretty embarrassed." He flinches when he sees Jura's red Vanguard looming over his.

Jura said coyly, "Hey, can we hurry up a little?"

Dita told her, "Hold it! The only person Mr. Alien's gonna do it with is me!"

Jura retorted, "Wait just a minute! Who do you think you're talking to?"

The redhead blurted out, "You just can't!"

Fed up with their arguing, Hibiki demanded, "Will the two of you knock it off?!" His takes off and when he reaches a certain altitude, a sensor picks up his unit's signature and shoots a laser at him, shooting him down but Gryphus 1 catches him. Looking up the Aurelian watches as a laser grid forms trapping them inside. Suddenly the dust whips up and attacks them.

Duero noticed the change of their vital signs from his control console seat on the Nirvana's bridge, "Their pulse rates are rising, something's happening down there!"

BC contacted the recon team, "Ground team, come in! What's happening?"

Barnette told her, _"The sand's attacking us!"_

The platinum-haired woman's eyes widened in disbelief, "What? The sand is attacking?" Down on the planet's surface, the sand begins to cover Hibiki's Vanguard.

Hibiki asked, "What's up with this sand?"

Jura said, "What is this stuff? It's almost as if it's alive!"

On the Nirvana's bridge BC ordered, "Run an analysis! Quickly!" A gray Vanguard makes it through the atmosphere and discards its umbrella.

Its pilot said, "This is Meia, does anyone copy?"

Duero watched Meia's vital signs appear on the console screen, "She's pushing herself." Alarms blare as the ship's radar detects enemy fighters closing in from 12 o'clock high, prompting all pilots to scramble.

Gryphus 2 swiftly puts his helmet and jumps into his F-22 to take off, Crux follows him out.

The enemy formation was a mixture of MiG-29 Fulcrums, F-16 Falcons and cube-types.

Gryphus 2 said, "I know you girls don't like taking orders from a man but for this mission you'll have to put up with me. Crux, you're on me, Mia, take control of B team. Protect the Nirvana, everyone. Move out!" He gets a "roger" from the pilots.

Back down on the planet, the sand continues to accumulate on the Vanguards no matter what they do.

Hibiki's Vanguard falls to the ground.

He said, "The hell? I can't move!"

Dita offered, "Mr. Alien, try to hang on I'll see what I can do to help."

Hibiki told her, "No, that'll only make the sand harder!" Jura flies her Vanguard over and uses the central exhaust vent to blow the sand off.

Hibiki commented, "Nice work."

Jura smiled suggestively, "And for my reward, you know what to do."

Hibiki said, "Are you still going on about that whole combining stuff? Haven't you figured it out that I can only combine with your Dread? How am I supposed to combine my Van-Type with another Van-Type, huh?"

Look of disbelief formed on Jura's face, "You're kidding! If I had known that I wouldn't have signed up for this mission!" Meia's hands grip the controls of her Vanguard as she brings it to a landing, shuddering upon landing and her vision turns red as the effects of claustrophobia kick in.

Duero contacted her, _"Meia, listen to me. You need to turn on your monitors! Meia, can you hear me?"_

Meia said in a raspy tone, "He should mind his own business." She succeeded in turning on the monitors then her eyes widened when Meia spotted something ahead of her, "What is that?" She only has enough time to gasp when the sand comes toward her, knocking the Vanguard down and starts covering it with sand.

'What should I do? I'm scared!' Meia thought in fear holding her head.

Kyle asked, "What did you say?"

Duero said, _"Meia landed on the planet somewhere. I've lost contact with her minutes ago!"_ Kyle tightens his grip on the control sticks. His team was under attack by Sand Vanguards after realizing they walked into a trap and now Meia went against his advice of sitting this mission out and now she's located somewhere on the planet.

Kyle said, "Grr, we don't have time for this! Barnette, go find Meia please."

Barnette objected, "Why should I take..."

Gryphus 1 cut her off, "Because if you don't her death will haunt you for the rest of your life. Another reason is what do you think the crew will respond to Meia's death they will probably blame you for it. Is that what you want? Tormented by your guilt to the end of your days? If not, then get going." Barnette wanted to retort but hearing the words repeat in the her head, she decided that any further argument would be pointless. She heads out to search for Meia.

Barnette locates Meia's Vanguard and begins to shovel the sand off when the pilot suddenly panics, punching the purple Vanguard and leap into the air to touch the laser grid, a loud alarm echoes through the sky.

Barnette asked, "Now what?" On the Nirvana's bridge, a timer appears on the bridge control consoles.

Belvedere said, "A self-destruct system's been activated. 300 seconds to detonation."

BC ordered, "Ground team, did you get that? You need to leave now!" Back with the recon team, they find themselves surrounded by Sand Vanguards.

Hibiki said, "Yeah, we'd be out of here if we weren't trapped!" He turned around to spot another enemy unit, "Another one?"

He readied one of his unit's swords when Barnette stopped him, "Hold on, that thing is Meia! The sand got hold of her unit and is controlling it!" Inside the gray Vanguard, Meia was almost catatonic as her claustrophobia had taken over.

Hibiki's voice snapped her out of it, "Hey! What are you doing, napping in there? Hurry up and get that stuff off you!" He tackles her machine to the ground.

Meia said in a weak voice, "Stop it. Just...forget about me!"

Hibiki shook his head, "Not gonna happen! You may exist just to piss me off but I'd never forgive myself if you died here. Stop acting selfish!"

Gryphus 1 told him, "Hibiki, those tanks near you contain liquid nitrogen. Burst them open, the sub-zero temperatures should deal with the Sand Vanguards."

Hibiki nodded, "You got it, Gryphus 1!" He throws one of the Vanguard's swords into the tanks, bursting them open and the sub-zero mist comes out.

Jura shivered, "What are you doing? It's getting cold in here, I'm freezing!" She realized, "Wait a minute. Freezing?" Jura watches as the enemy units become brittle and crumble. The sand over Meia's Vanguard cracks and breaks apart, allowing her to see the light of day again.

Meia said, "To think I'd owe a man my life."

Hibiki told her, "How dumb are you? Man or woman, it doesn't matter. If you have no interest in dying then take my hand!" Meia makes her decision and her machine grasps the Vanguard's hand.

The timer reaches zero and the bridge crew watch explosions taking place. For several minutes they feel the ground team didn't make it but Duero sees their vital signs reappear on the console and looks out the observation window to see the Vanguards gaining distance from the planet as the Dreads and Gryphus Squadron mop up the last of the enemy attack force.

Ezra said in relief, "Every unit is safe and counted for."

Belvedere stated, "We've obtained data from the enemy."

BC ordered, "Read it."

The blonde-haired bridge bunny looked at her, "You want me to read it?"

The commander gave her a stern look, "Didn't you hear my order? I said read it!"

Belvedere said, "Sorry, I'll read it now. 'Attention: This year's crops are red blood cells, white cells, platelets, lymph cells, etc. All blood components are in good condition'. This is where the data ends."

BC whipped around to face Magno, "Captain, t-this means..."

The pirate leader said in disgust, "It appears what the enemy wanted was to harvest us for their own purposes. It's safe to assume from this information is that they think of us as nothing more than vegetables! If there's one lesson we have learned is that we're facing truly formidable opponents." The Vanguards are put into their storage units as the pilots recover from the mission.

'Being saved by someone is bad enough but being saved by a man is a disgrace. And of all them it had to those two!' Meia thought hatefully.

She heard Hibiki moan when he came out of his Vanguard, "My head feels like it's gonna split open. I think I caught a cold." He looked at Meia who turned her head away, "What's wrong with her?" He sneezes again.

Footsteps alert Meia to someone approaching her location, looking up she locks eyes with Kyle who stared at her with an unreadable expression before it changed.

Kyle said, "You fucking idiot!" He throws a right hook that sends Meia careening across the hanger floor. Kyle was normally a calm, restrained man but what Meia did was the last straw.

Meia sat up, nursing her cheek, "What was that for?"

Kyle glared at her darkly, "The better question is what in God's name were you thinking? I asked you to sit the mission out because of your claustrophobia and you ignored it. I have never seen such insubordination in my life!"

Meia fired back, "I am leader of the Dreads and as such it's my responsibility to see that everyone comes back alive."

Kyle's glare darkened, "Listen carefully because I won't repeat myself. When placed under my command, you are to follow my orders. You were not put in charge for that mission and your pride almost got us killed. It was only through my quick thinking that we survived. Don't bother making some excuse, Meia because I don't buy it. If you don't change your ways you won't live for much longer. I have seen many pilots get killed due to their arrogance or pride, some by my hand and some by the enemy. I have been in two wars, Meia. You've been in what, one? Had you faced me in a dogfight the only thing you'd be hearing is the missile warning going off and a missile coming towards you. Your life would be extinguished before you could even blink! I'm not saying this out of arrogance but of fact! Do something like that again and you won't have to worry about the enemy killing you because I'll spare them the headache and do it myself. You do well to remember that, you stupid bitch!" His eyes become that glowing red and his pupils slitted. The other pilots who were there felt their blood freeze in their veins from the killer intent radiating off Kyle.

Kyle leaves the hanger area not wanting to be anywhere near Meia.

Alex walked to the Dread leader sighing, "While I believe Kyle could have handled that better you have only yourself to blame, Meia. This whole propaganda about men being your worst enemy is bogus. This might be just my opinion but I think you're jealous of him. You're jealous because Kyle can work in ways you can't and that eats you alive on the inside. I have known Kyle since my days in the Aurelian Air Force Academy and we have been through thick and thin during the Aurelian War. If it wasn't for Kyle, I wouldn't be here. Besides that, Meia he...he's experienced tragedy like you'd never believe. He hides that pain under a stoic mask. A mask that I fear is beginning to break."

Meia's expression changed to one of curiosity, "What do you mean?"

Alex responded, "You should ask Kyle that. I have tried to ask him why he's like this but he doesn't answer. Maybe you can help him, Meia." That night, Kyle sits on his bed thinking over the events that transpired earlier. In his hand was a photo of five people including himself. The photo was taken on September 2, 2020, one month before Leasath invaded Aurelia.

The first of the three siblings was the oldest at 20 years of age, had black hair that went past her shoulders, blue-gray eyes, stood at 5'11, slender figure, creamy white skin, and 38C cup breasts. Her attire was composed of a blue V-neck shirt that exposed decent amount of cleavage, black shorts and purple Adidas shoes. Her name was Jessica Masterson.

The second one was Kyle himself at the same age he is now and wore a red T-shirt, blue shorts and brown sandals.

The third girl was 17 years old, short black hair cut in a boyish style that was straight at the front and fanned out in the back, stood at 5'6, fair skin tone, blue-gray eyes, athletic figure and 34C cup breasts. She wore a white shirt, tan khaki shorts and dark blue shoes. Her name was Sara Masterson.

The fourth girl was the youngest at 5 years of age, blonde hair tied in twin pigtails, brown eyes, fair skin and wore a pink shirt, blue shorts and pink shoes. Her name was Bianca Masterson.

The last person was their mother. She was very beautiful at 37 years old, stood at 5'9, pale skin, shoulder-length black hair, 38C cup breasts, blue-gray eyes and toned figure that still made men drool. Her attire was composed of a light purple blouse, blue shorts and red Nike shoes. Her name's Michelle Masterson.

They looked so happy in the picture, nothing could take it away.

Tears fell from Kyle's face as he said, "It's not...it's not fair, it should have been me not you. You girls did nothing to have your lives taken, there was still many places to go. Mother, Jessica, Sara, Bianca, I miss you so much. What have I done to deserve this? I've only fought for what I believe in. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" He hugs the picture to his chest as he cries harder.

A/N: Chapter 5 done.

The crew discovered a desert planet and sent a recon team to gain some information on their enemy which turns out they wanted to harvest the crew for some purpose.

Meia was asked to stay behind due to her fear of enclosed space but she didn't listen and Kyle wasn't happy about it. In response he gave her a warning.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 6.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Vader 23A


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Brush with Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

A stretcher was rushed through the hallway toward the infirmary. The injured pilot was Meia, pushing the stretcher was Duero, Hibiki, Dita and a member from Meia's team.

Duero diagnosed, "Surface wound to the head, rupture spleen and a visually fractured femur."

Hibiki grunted, "You idiot! What were you thinking, trying to take on the enemy by yourself when you knew full well that another fighter jet was closing in on you?"

Flashback

_The Nirvana crew find themselves in battle with the Harvesters around some gas giant planet with its massive moon looking like someone took a huge laser and sliced a good part of it out, creating the ring system around it._

_Gryphus 1 shakes off a bunch of heat-seeking missiles launched and fires the Swarm Missiles in retaliation. The transport missile screams to its targets and splits halfway there, unleashing its payload of missiles. The enemy fighters don't react in time and get shot down. He takes evasive action when he hears the missile alert going off and increases the F-22 Raptor's speed to dive straight down. The Shockwave Ballistic Missile goes off and the explosion destroys nearby asteroids. Carefully flying through the ring system, Gryphus 1 uses his superior eyesight to find the enemy aircraft responsible for that attack and his eyes narrow at what he saw. It was like seeing a ghost from the past he struggled to forget._

_The giant resembled the Gleipnir except it was not as bulky as its predecessor. The SWBM launching ports were still in the same spot on top of the airborne fortress's back, the wings had the swept-back design and four engines that propelled the mammoth forward. Despite its size the new airborne fortress could turn amazingly fast thanks to the design and powerful engines. In addition to the SWBM, the Gleipnir 2.0 had the Optical Camouflage System, cannons, SAMs, AA guns and multiple Mason Cannons in the front of the wings making a frontal attack suicidal._

_'It appears the Harvesters have created a Gleipnir class of superweapons.' Gryphus 1 thought._

_He understands that the SWBM had to be out of commission to prevent anyone losing their lives. He firewalls the throttle quickly closing the distance and arms the XLAAM, patiently waiting to gain a lock. Once he does, he fires 4 missiles that destroy the SWBM launching ports effectively stopping the threat. However, he doesn't get time to celebrate because another of the Harvesters' new toy fires lasers at him._

_It was shaped like a dart and its wings were fixed in a X shape._

_An X-2 Wyvern fires its cannon at him and Gryphus 1 barrel rolls through the bullets. A quick glance at the passing fighter and Gryphus 1 knew who flew that particular craft._

_Gryphus 1 said, "So you've chosen to show yourself after all this time, Francesca. I've been waiting to cross paths with you again."_

_The young woman's laughter echoed through the radio, "Ah, Gryphus 1. Nice to see you again your flying abilities have improve greatly since the first time you took to the skies. Diego Navarro has longed to see you after you humiliated him during the Aurelian War."_

_Gryphus 1 demanded, "Where is he? He must pay for what he's done to me!"_

_Francesca laughed evilly, "Why would I give away that information? It's more fun torturing you now than I did back then!" Gryphus 1 grips the joystick this psychotic woman had nerve to dig up such memories that plague him so much._

_The male pilot said, "Don't fuck with me." Turning his stealth fighter around, the Aurelian fires the F-22's Vulcan Gatling cannon but the X-2 Wyvern dodges the attack with minimal effort. The enemy fighter shoots at him and Gryphus 1 weaves through the ring system to dodge the rounds._

_Crux readies a pair of AMRAAM missiles on some F-16 Falcons while being cautious of his surroundings._

_Once the lock-on symbol turned red, he cried, "Crux, Fox Three!" The AMRAAM were released and they score home at the targets, turning the F-16s into fireballs. He quickly banks right to shake off an AIM-9 Sidewinder. He U-turns and shoots his E-3 Sentry II's Vulcan Gatling cannons, ripping holes in the attacker's frame. He feels pink laser beams grazing his jet and pulls evasive maneuvers to prevent sustaining damage. A radar warning tells Crux that some MiG-21s were shooting their 30mm cannons at him. Crux takes evasive action but the MiGs stay with him no matter where he went._

_Gryphus 1 and Francesca continue their game of cat and mouse through the ring system. To his 9 o'clock he sees Meia trying to engage the dart-shaped fighter on her own._

_He said, "Meia, that new enemy's too fast for you to handle on your own. Combine with Hibiki's Vanguard, your Vandread's speed will allow you to keep pace with the enemy."_

_Meia replied, "I don't need a man's help! I can do this on my own!"_

_Gryphus 1 told her, "This isn't the time for stubborn pride, Meia! You're going to get hit at this rate!" It's like he was talking to a brick wall because the light blue-haired woman ignores his advice and tries to take on the enemy by herself. However, the dart-shaped fighter uses the environment, its slender body, alarming speed and agility to its advantage. The enemy shoots lasers from its "eyes" and strikes near the cockpit. The next thing Gryphus 1 hears is a scream on the radio before static noise takes its place. As the enemy readied to deliver the killing blow, it breaks off the attack to avoid Gryphus 1's Swarm Missiles._

_Gryphus 2, who was nearby, exclaimed, "Meia!"_

_His flight lead alerted, "Nirvana, this is Gryphus 1. Get the infirmary and stretcher ready and bring Gascogne's ship out here! Meia's been injured badly!"_

_He heard BC gasp, "What? Meia's been injured?" In no time, the Reg delivery ship arrives and secures the damaged Dread. Gryphus Squadron escorts it back to the Nirvana, the fellow Dreads keep the enemies away from them. After landing in the hanger, Gryphus 1 spots a stretcher waiting so he helps Parfet open the cockpit to the damaged Dread once it's opened Gryphus 2 fought back the urge to vomit at the sight of Meia's injuries. Gryphus 1 and Parfet pry Meia out and gently place her on the stretcher not minding the blood pouring out of a wound on her head staining his g-suit with the crimson fluid._

_Gryphus 1 ordered, "Don't stand there! Get her to the infirmary! Go, go, go!" He hops back into his stealth fighter to rejoin the fight occurring in space._

End of flashback

Meia looks at the passing lights overhead, the voices of the people over her barely audible as she's wheeled to the ER. Her mind drifts back to her past, to her Ohma and Fahma and the incident that changed her life forever.

Duero sees the look in his patient's eyes and realizes there was no time to waste.

He ordered, "Clear the Emergency Room!" The door slides open and Paiway gasps when she spots Meia coming in. Her circlet falls off her face and Duero removes her chest and shoulder padding followed by unzipping her flight suit, rendering Meia bare from the waist up. Duero ignores this because he knows time is of the essence. He places an oxygen mask over the injured pilot's mouth.

Meia said weakly, "Moth..er..." With Meia out of commission, Jura takes command of the Dreads.

She ordered, "A team, switch to alpha one formation now and B team...well..." The enemy takes advantage of the chaos as the Dreads get hit by enemy fire or crash into each other.

Barnette said, _"Get a grip on yourself, Jura! The formation you ordered is not working!"_ Her friend could feel the pressure getting the best of her rapidly.

Jura replied, "I know that! I know that!" Gryphus 1 combines with Mia's Dread to form Amaterasu to combat the X-2 Wyvern that somehow turned into a robot that looked exactly like Amaterasu in terms of appearance but was colored black and dark red. It was armed with a sword staff and a single laser cannon mounted on the left shoulder blade. It was dubbed Hades after the Roman god of the underworld.

Hades draws one blade and charges, raising its weapon over the head and brings it down full force however Amaterasu parries the attack and looks to jab its opponent. Hades grabs hold of the silver machine's arm, pulls it in to drive the knee into the gut. Gryphus 1 spots the enemy raise its blade to head level and tilts its head to the left to avoid the blade going through it. Amaterasu uses its free hand to connect a punch that careens the hostile back. Hades proves to be an annoying opponent because swings its weapon prompting Amaterasu to parry each attack yet Gryphus 1 can't help but feel that Francesca was toying with them.

'What is this woman's plan?' Mia thought.

A powerful shield jab pushes Hades back, the black robot readies its shoulder cannon. In response to this Amaterasu aims its twin-barreled plasma rifle, yellow-white and red beams collide testing each other's strength. The beams explode producing a blinding flash of light. The dark visor to Gryphus 1's helmet protects his eyes while Mia raises her arm to shield her own. When the light faded, Hades was nowhere to be found until Gryphus 1's head snapped up violently and whips their machine around to block a horizontal slash that looked to slice Amaterasu in half.

Francesca taunted, _"What's the matter, Gryphus 1? Why aren't you fighting like you normally do? Is it possible that you're more concerned about that light blue-haired woman than your own life?"_

Mia seethed, "Shut up, you sadistic fuck! My sister doesn't give up!" She then gasps when Hades points its shoulder cannon toward the Nirvana and fires. The machine races to the ship and gets between it and the laser beam. It brings its shield up and the pilots can feel their machine vibrate as the shield deflects the attack. After the beam dies down, a glowing scorch mark is left. Overwhelmed by rage Mia separates her Dread from Kyle's F-22 and chases after Hades.

The dart-shaped fighter pierces a part of the Nirvana's shielding.

Belvedere informed, "We've lost the outer layer of our aft shielding!" The bridge staff can only listen as the distress calls pour in.

BC said, "To think that our enemy has the ability to create decoys." The stagehands of Reg Central feel the pressure bearing down on them until Gascogne shows up.

The Reg leader told them, "Calm down, girls. Panicking isn't going to help us win this battle so stay positive. What's our motto?"

The stagehands said in unison, "Send our friends out with a smile!"

Gascogne nodded, smiling, "Right. Carry on." Bart screams in pain when he felt a laser collide with him, BC grits her teeth as the relentless distress calls keep pouring in. However, Magno's mind was on something else.

'Meia.' She thought.

In the infirmary Duero ordered, "Paiway, adjust the oxygen saturation levels! Stabilizing her condition is our top priority!"

Paiway nodded, "Understood." Meia looks back on her past again, this time on her mother.

In the back of her mind, Meia hated her mother thinking she was weak. Meia felt that if she became strong enough, mature enough, she would be able to protect her mother but in the end Meia realized her mother was protecting her.

A tear slides down Meia's face.

Paiway saw the tear and said in awe, "This is the first time I've ever seen Meia cry." Due to Jura's lack of experience in leadership, the situation deteriorates as more Dreads get damaged by enemy fire.

Barnette told her friend, _"You're not gonna let things end this way, Jura! Jura!"_

Jura finally reached her breaking point, "Shut up, don't ask me anything!" Hibiki knocks an asteroid out of his Vanguard's flight path and narrowly dodges a passing Dread.

He said, "Man, this sucks. Guess I have no choice. Hey Dita, let's combine!"

Dita blinked in surprise, "Um, sure!" She normally expected Hibiki not to call her by her name but giving how dire their situation was, she understood.

Their machines combine to form Vandread Dita. The blue machine chases after the dart-shaped fighter and readies its shoulder cannons, gaining a lock and was about to fire when the enemy swings around an asteroid. Caught off guard, they dive under to prevent crashing into it and they see Jura's Dread pulling up.

She said, _"Nice flying. Is that all you can do?"_

Hibiki told her, "Shut up, how about you find yourself useful and think of a plan!"

Gryphus 1 said, "That's enough, you two!" Though they can't see his face through the dark visor of his demonic helmet, the pilots could tell that the 19-year old Aurelian was not in the mood for their tantrum, "Snapping at each other won't help! Find some other way to blow off steam when this battle's over. Hibiki, return to the Nirvana for refueling and rearming. Go, now." Hibiki salutes him and heads for the Nirvana. He doesn't want to admit but Hibiki was starting to look up to Gryphus 1, seeing as the kind of person he could be.

The pilot turned to Jura, "You should head back for refuel and rearm as well, Jura."

Jura retorted, _"I don't need a man to tell me what to do!"_

Gryphus 1 said in a calmer voice, "I'm not ordering you, Jura. I'm just giving you advice. Crux, please go find Mia. She's fighting an old enemy from my past." He closes the channel and decides to take control of B team.

Crux looks at his radar hoping to find Mia and soon finds her dodging 30mm bullets from the Wyvern's cannon, opening a screen and zooming in he see holes in the Dread's frame. Knowing the consequences of what'll happen if that frame tears apart Crux firewalls the throttle and shoots the twin M61A2 Vulcan Gatling cannons to make Francesca break off the attack. The crazy female turns her attention to him and arms an AMRAAM. However, she doesn't get the chance to fire it because Crux's E-3 Sentry II releases an electromagnetic pulse that disables her plane.

Crux said, "Come on, Mia. Let's head back to the Nirvana, that EMP won't last long!"

Mia growled, "Fine. This ain't over, bitch." The two head for the Nirvana.

On the bridge BC continued to hear the pilots yell in confusion, "It appears we've taken Meia's leadership for granted. We neglected to properly train a sub-leader in the event she was incapacitated."

Magno explained, "It's not entirely our fault, BC. It's because Meia would not allow us to." The platinum-haired woman looked at her, "She avoided human contact unless necessary. She avoided relying on people. From the moment I picked her for this group I knew this day would eventually come. After the incident that forever changed her life, the eyes of society that once looked at her with the highest praise now looked at her with cold stares, calling her every name in the book among other things. At that moment, she realized that she had nothing in this world. That girl insisted on punishing herself, she can't tolerate making mistakes! She blames it on her own weaknesses. I remember she used to say to me one time, 'I have nothing precious left. When you let yourself become attached you become weak. I want to become strong, strong enough so that nobody has to go through the hell I went through'." The pilots return to the Nirvana for repairs and to review their strategy.

Jura sat against the wall, "I can't do it. I don't have what it takes to replace Meia!"

Gascogne walked up to her, "Don't be so hard on yourself. Trust me, no one's asking if you have what it takes to replace Meia. Try to take it easy and rely on others. Look around you, these people aren't having doubts about you. Don't be someone you're not and don't pretend to be someone you know you're not. What can you do and what can't you do, that's all you need to ask of them. Once you know that, everything will fall into place."

Crux said, "I agree." They turned their heads to him, "When I was assigned to be Gryphus Squadron's AWACS, I had doubts about myself. I was afraid that I wouldn't live up to everyone's expectations. During the intercept mission where Gryphus Squadron was sent to repel a bomber squadron from destroying Cape Aubrey, I watched as the SWBM launched by the Gleipnir destroy Gryphus Squadron. I was afraid they were completely wiped out, fortunately Gryphus 1 and 2 survived. This left me traumatized making me constantly worry for Gryphus 1's life. As the war progressed I watched him deal one blow after another to Leasath forces, his actions spurred the remaining Aurelian soldiers to fight against the invaders. With each victory, I felt a boost of confidence. Once Griswall was liberated Gryphus 1 became the hero of Aurelia. However he said that he didn't feel like a hero which confused me because being called a hero by your fellow countrymen is an honor. It's like he was fighting an internal struggle that no one can see. Everyone has demons, Jura. If you can overcome them, there is no limit at what you can achieve. I still have doubts about myself but with Gryphus Squadron and this crew, they give me the strength to conquer those doubts. I know you can do the same, Jura. Don't give up on yourself. Okay?" He flashes her a friendly smile before walking off.

Gascogne smirked, "He may not be from Tarak but he can give some advice if needed. I think hanging around with Gryphus Squadron is helping with his confidence." Alex wanders the hallway to see where Mia ran off to and soon finds her sitting on the bench outside the ER hugging her legs and burying her face in her arms.

He starts advancing but stops when he hears faint crying from the younger Gisborn. Steeling himself Alex walks over to Mia who lifts her head to lock eyes with Alex, aqua blue meeting hazel. Mia watches Alex kneel to her level and gasps when he pulls her into his strong arms.

Alex rubbed her back, "It's okay, Mia. Your sister is a fighter she won't give up so easily. You need to have faith in Duero and Paiway, girl. They will bring Meia back. I promise you that."

Mia started, "But what if..."

Alex cut her off, "Don't be negative, Mia. That's not like you. Kyle, Eugene and myself have vowed to protect this crew including you. I promise no harm will come to you." He pulled back to smile at her, "Okay?" Mia was captivated by Alex's gentle eyes, they held strong conviction it made her heart beat faster.

Mia said, "Kyle..."

Alex smiled, "Come on, we got a ship to defend." Mia returns the smile and gets to her feet. Nodding the two run toward the hanger where Gryphus 1 sat in the cockpit of his F-22 waiting to see what strategy they have come up with.

Vandread Dita was secured by grappling arms while it was nice to have some breathing room thanks Crux's EMP the enemy refuses to let up its attack.

Hibiki growled, "Man, all this sitting around is annoying!"

Dita said, "I'm afraid that Meia's gonna die. If something like were to happen..."

Hibiki stated, "There was something grandpa used to say to me. You can worry about things all you want but that doesn't mean you'll always get an answer. What's important is that you got through it all somehow. Were you that person you wanted to be?" He turned to her, "I know you're worried but Duero will do everything in his power to save her. The only thing we need to worry about is protecting the ship and sick bay your leader's in, don't you think?"

Dita looked at him, wiping a tear away, "You're right. Thank you, Mr. Alien."

Her smile made Hibiki feel warmth but he covered it up with some excuse, "I'm sure she would say the same thing if she were here."

Jura said over the radio, _"Listen up, pilots. Change the frequency of your barriers and beams, I'm transmitting the data now. We'll protect ourselves from friendly fire this way."_

Hibiki grinned, "That's right, we still have a card to play!" Inside the infirmary Duero and Paiway look at Meia's CAT scans.

Duero explained, "The problem we have now is the Paksis fragment that entered her wound. It's creating reactions of its own inside her, invading Meia's brain cells in some strange way. I don't know how long her spirit will last in the confusion that's attacking her central nervous system." Meia experiences another flashback.

In it, Meia's mother tells her not be so hard on her Ohma saying she was a little unapproachable but was an honest person and refuses not to help someone. This was one of the reasons why Meia's mother fell in love with her and Meia was born. She assured her daughter that it'll happen to her one day when someone important shows up in her life. Meia, to be more precise her younger self, said she didn't need that if they got hurt because of her. Meia's mother told her that falling in love with someone was a wonderful thing you become strong because there's someone to care for. Meia disagreed saying you become weak because of it, asking if her mother got it whose fault it was they felt the way they did. Meia's mother apologized stating that she shouldn't have brought her daughter into this mess. Meia regretted saying those words and wanted to apologize one day but she can't. No matter what, her mother would never hear it.

Duero noticed the drop in Meia's vital signs and urged, "Hold on, Meia! You mustn't give up!"

'I don't want to anymore." The Dread leader thought.

The dart-shaped fighter shoots its lasers through the Nirvana's shield protecting the left wing.

Belvedere alerted, "Portside has been hit! The ship is starting to tilt!"

Amarone added, "Decks 2 through 9 are heavily damaged! Shield strength's decreasing! Dread team, how much longer until you launch?" BC clutches the empty bridge control console in frustration as their situation grew more dire by the second.

Hibiki appeared on the monitor, _"There's no need to get so worked up over this. I got a plan I'd like to try."_

Magno asked him, "Oh, yeah? A suicide mission?"

Hibiki chuckled, _"As if! This plan will destroy the enemy with zero percent chance of missing. When this mission's over, I expect you to whip up a sizable feast!"_

Magno smirked, "If your plan goes well, you can eat until you burst."

Hibiki gave her the thumbs-up, _"That's the way I would like to go!"_ Gryphus Squadron returns to the battlefield and Gryphus 1 automatically goes after Francesca.

Francesca looks around for her target when her Wyvern releases the missile warning and she turns left to avoid an XLAAM missile.

Gryphus 1 asked, "Missed me?" A game of cat and mouse ensues but this time Gryphus 1 had calmed down refusing to have the crazy woman get under his skin.

He closes the distance and fires his stealth fighter's M61A2 Vulcan Gatling cannon, the 20mm bullets fly through space but the pilot barrel rolls through the deadly barrage. Completing a hard left turn, Francesca arms a Sidewinder and fires, Gryphus 1 shoots a Sidewinder in retaliation. The two missiles crash into each other resulting in a fireball that lights up the blackness of space.

Francesca gained a crazed look in her eyes, _"Ah, this is the real you I wanted to face. Nemesis, the pilot who struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. Show me more!"_

Gryphus 1 replied, "Your words don't work on me." The two fighter jets speed toward each other seeing who'll flinch first, to both pilots' surprise neither flinch so they fly past one another belly to belly. Francesca readies the AMRAAM missiles, she waits for the lock to turn red and fires. In a display of incredible piloting accuracy, the F-22 flies between the asteroids making the missiles connect with them instead. The radar warning sounds and Gryphus 1 looks over his shoulder to see the X-02 Wyvern chasing after him. Unknown to the pilot is that's what Gryphus 1 intended.

Dreads line up on both sides of Vandread Dita.

Hibiki said, "I'm hungry as it is. Let's finish this in one shot. Tighten your safety harnesses, everyone and let's get down to business!" Parfet hooks Meia up to a device they hope will break up the Paksis fragment in her skull, Duero knew this was dangerous but he was running out of alternatives.

Parfet explained, "We only have one shot at this. If this doesn't work, Meia will never return to the woman we know." She activates the machine and Meia screams in pain as the electrical currents hit her. After several minutes, Meia flat lines much to Parfet's horror.

Hibiki waits until the enemy closed in to 900Gr then signals for the attack. The Dreads get into assigned positions while Vandread Dita uses its bladed gauntlets to deflect enemy fire.

Dita said, "I can't take it!"

Hibiki grinned, "Don't give up now, the fun's about to begin so let's get this show started." Vandread Dita connects the shoulder cannons to its gauntlets, charging them up and fires them in multiple directions. The beams bounce off the Dreads' shields creating a swarm of lasers that destroy every Harvest unit in its path not even the dart-shaped fighter could escape its fate. The Gleipnir 2.0 sustains heavy damage and retreats activating its Optical Camouflage System to hide it from radar.

On the Nirvana's bridge, BC said in awe/surprise, "What an insane idea, using our Dreads' shields to redirect his shots!"

Magno smiled, "It maybe a man's insane idea but it's a pretty good one." She was impressed that the plan actually worked.

Francesca arms another Sidewinder and was about to fire when an aqua green laser beam catches her eye, gasping she breaks right the beam of energy leaves a large scorch mark on the aircraft's body. Feeling that retreat is wise the crazy woman leaves the battlefield.

Looking over her shoulder, she said to her opponent, _"This isn't over, Gryphus 1. You will die by my hands."_

'Actually it will be the other way around.' Gryphus 1 thought.

_Meia finds herself on a field of grass. She felt no pain, no fear, only peace._

_She said, "Finally I can go."_

_Meia's mother told her, "Don't give up, Meia." The Dread leader stood up immediately, "My dream was very different from your Ohma's. I wanted to create a safe haven, one where you could feel peaceful and secure when you came home whether you were happy or sad, full of energy or exhausted. A place where I can greet you with a happy 'welcome home' no matter what kind of day it was."_

_Meia said, "No! You weren't the weak person, mother it was me. I didn't have the courage to understand others, I was afraid of showing how I felt. I was afraid of not being liked."_

_Her mother smiled, "Meia, you're strong-willed and have a gentle heart. Please, don't blame yourself anymore. You have nothing to fear. Open your heart, people can't live by themselves. Go. Go back to the place you belong where the people who are important to you are waiting." She began to disappear._

_Meia said, "Wait, mother. I still have things to say to you!"_

_The older woman replied, "I know, little one. I will hear them inside your heart. There's another person who is suffering as much as you: Kyle Masterson."_

_Meia gasped, "What? Kyle?"_

_Her mother nodded, "Yes. He's in pain and feels lost, you need to help him before he gives up." She sees images of the crew._

_Magno asking her why she keeps her heart tightly shut, Bart telling her to loosen up, Hibiki asking if she was an idiot, Mia's smiling face, Duero for his calm attitude and treated her like a person, Alex with his laid back personality when not in battle, Eugene acting a little uneasy around them and finally Kyle himself._

_She recalls how he explained that while he didn't completely trust her he would protect her along with his wingmen. Next she remembered how he scolded her for nearly getting them killed during the recon mission on the desert planet._

_Alex said in her mind, "He...he's experienced tragedy like you'd never believe. He hides that pain under a stoic mask. A mask that I'm afraid is beginning to crack." Meia finally understood the meaning behind their words. They were trying to get her to realize that you learn from mistakes and improve. Meia had to choose. She could give up and find eternal rest but in darkness or continue living, enduring more hardship and pain but have the support of her friends. An image of Kyle crying flashed before her eyes and that made her heart break for some unknown reason. That sight caused Meia to make her decision._

She opens her eyes to see Parfet and Paiway sobbing.

Parfet said, "You came back!"

Paiway added, "We saved you!"

Meia smiled, "Oh, stop it you two." She feels her face to find her circlet but panics when it's not there. However, Duero shows it to her in hand, cleaned and ready for her to wear.

He said, "Don't worry, it's right here. This is something pretty important to you, isn't it?"

Meia answered, "No, it's a lesson." Later that night, most of the Nirvana was quiet save for a few.

BC types on the control console and sighs looking out the observation window.

Ezra rubs her growing stomach, happy of the fact they survived and looks forward to seeing the birth of her baby soon.

Paiway lays her head on the desk while Duero did a journal entry behind her.

Parfet finds herself in despair as she lost another round of cards with Gascogne. It was like the Reg leader was a natural talent with the game.

Meia sits on her bed wearing surprisingly a pink nightgown, her circlet back on the left side of her face. She couldn't sleep and got dressed into her flight suit and heads for the cafeteria, entering she discovers plates stacked upon plates. Earlier, the crew had a massive celebration over the fact that they won to fight another day. That wasn't the reason Meia disapproved this breach of discipline because she knows the crew deserved and they did it without her help. She walks up to Hibiki sleeping without his jacket.

Magno said, "They all did their best out there."

Meia turned, "Oh, it's you captain."

Magno placed the jacket on Hibiki to keep him from catching a cold, "It's ironic. He is the exact opposite of you, the passionate fool. But he's won everyone's hearts and right underneath our noses at that. You're not much different from him Meia, you and this rascal. The only difference between you two is whether you express your feelings."

Meia said, "Captain, I..."

Magno smiled, "Meia, isn't it time you found some forgiveness? For yourself, that is?"

Taken off guard, the Dread leader said, "I don't know..."

Magno closed her eyes, "It's okay if you are confused, Meia. I know it's hard to move on but it's a step in the right direction." With that the pirate leader takes her leave allowing Meia to ponder on the elder woman's words. There was one more person she needed to see.

Kyle stands in the quiet hallway outside his room, his troubled mind prevented him from getting proper sleep. A part of him clings to the hope that he, Alex and Eugene can return to their own time but that hope was becoming less likely each day. Could they survive in this alternate universe where the two genders fight one another or can they put aside their differences and find some way to co-exist? Whatever happens from this point on the Aurelians will figure something out during the journey back to Tarak/Mejale territory.

He senses someone's presence and looks to the right quickly his eyes making out the shape of Meia. Looking into her eyes, Kyle didn't see any hint of anger, disdain or hatred. More like conflict, sadness and...regret?

Kyle returned his gaze to the window, "I see you chose to live, Meia. Are you well enough to walk around?"

Meia lowered her head, "I'm fine. I wanted to apologize, Kyle."

The Aurelian asked, "Apologize? For what?"

Meia explained, "For the recon mission last month. I ignored your order to stay on the Nirvana because of my pride and I almost got the recon team killed. That same pride almost cost me my life today because I again refused to listen to you. I'm sorry, Kyle. Please forgive me."

Kyle answered, "I understand you're still getting used to the fact men are part of the crew. I forgive you, Meia." Shock ran through her, Kyle had forgiven her! Meia was expecting him to scold her for not listening to his advice but that wasn't the case!

Meia asked, "Kyle, do you...hate me?"

The young man turned to make full eye contact, "What brought this on?"

Meia said, "I was raised to believe men were our sworn enemy and the mere touch of them were said to corrupt a woman." Kyle wanted to find the person who came up with this bullshit and give her a proper education about the opposite sex.

He chose his next words carefully, "I don't have anything against you as a human being, Meia. Men from my home world would be lucky to have an extremely beautiful woman like you. Your eyes could make someone stare at them for hours, your hair shines exotically, your skin is flawless and creamy soft, your toned and athletic figure shows you take care of yourself and your courage is admirable. It was your arrogance and cold attitude I hated. Opening your heart to someone after suffering a personal loss is challenging but if you don't you will make yourself more miserable. However, reaching out to your friends can help you cope with the death of loved ones such as your parents." Meia lifts her head to show pink-tinted cheeks at the compliment she received about her appearance.

Meia blinked, "Um, thank you." Her heart races when Kyle closed the distance between them and pulled another surprise on Meia.

He pulled her into a hug, "For all it's worth, I'm glad you survived. The crew would be utterly devastated if they heard you died, you are the pillar of strength Meia. I would be devastated if you gave up living, I'd never forgive myself. What is the point of living if someone you knew chose the coward's way out?" Meia unconsciously wraps her arms around Kyle's waist, she came up to his chest due to the man's taller frame. For reasons unknown to her, Meia felt safe in Kyle's arms. It was like he was the light to her darkness.

She mentally moans when Kyle breaks the hug to bring them at arms-length.

The young man said, "Hope we can start anew, right? I'd like to get to know you better, Meia. Well, I'm going to bed you should do the same thing. Good-night, Meia." The bedroom door opens for Kyle to enter and closes behind. Meia places a hand over her chest.

'Why is my heart still racing?' She thought.

A/N: Chapter 6 done.

Here the crew found themselves in their most intense battle yet and Meia came close to knocking on Death's door. The spirit of her mother told her not to give up, however.

Another ghost from Kyle's past has come to haunt him. What is Francesca's connection with him?

It appears the Harvesters have created a Gleipnir class of airborne superweapons.

Lastly, Kyle showed he doesn't actually hate Meia like she feared he would.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 7.

Vader 23A


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Lecture about Emotions

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

It's been about one week since the Harvesters last attacked and everyone was taking advantage of it to enjoy some R&R.

Inside her room, Dita was sowing together a pillow that had an alien in the middle.

She suddenly poked herself with the needle, "Ow, that hurt!"

Paiway, who was with her due to having nothing else to do, asked, "Dita, are you making that for a guy?" Dita placed a hand on her cheek and laughed, "Because if you aren't, you can give it to me."

Dita hugged the pillow, "No way! I'm making this for Mr. Alien!"

Paiway turned away, saying in her puppet voice, "Barf out, ribbit!" On the bridge, Belvedere was telling a joke to Amarone while Ezra sleeps in the bridge control console. BC and Magno look on.

BC sighed, "When we're not under attack things get dull around here fast."

Magno said in slight surprise, "I didn't know you were one for that military ballyhoo!"

The command looked at the elder woman, "I'm only thinking of the crew's morale."

Magno smiled, "Our business is pirating, BC. Even pirates deserve to relax every now and then." In the cockpit of his F-22 Kyle reads a book titled "The Rise and Fall of nations" he found in the storage area ever since they were brought to this alternate universe, Kyle's mind was plagued by thoughts of what happened to Aurelia over the past 800 years. Did it still prosper in their absence or had it collapsed? He hoped the book contained information about Aurelia's fate but to his frustration nothing has shown up. Not yet, at least.

He heard running footsteps and looked over the edge to see the bubbly redhead, "Hey Dita, looking for someone?"

Dita nodded, "Yeah. Have you seen Mr. Alien? I have a gift for him."

Kyle rubbed his chin, "Hmm, you could try his room. If he isn't working on his Vanguard then he must be in his quarters."

Dita smiled, "Thank you, Kyle!" The redhead runs off to the Vanguard pilot's room.

Kyle asked out loud, "Are you going to continue being chicken or are you gonna man up and be nicer to Dita, Hibiki?" The said man fell from his hiding spot on the ceiling of the Vanguard cockpit.

Arriving at the bedroom, Dita looks for Hibiki and doesn't find him. Observing the state the room's in, Dita cleans the place starting by dusting followed by sweeping, wiping the floor, relocating boxes and lastly making the bed and placing the pillow at the front.

Hibiki returns to his room after completing maintenance on his machine and drops the toolbox screaming at what he saw. Alien decorations lined the walls and ceiling.

He said, "What the hell?" Hibiki spotted Dita sleeping in his bed and said, "Wake up! What are you doing sleeping in my room?" Dita wipes the sleep out of her eyes and looks at Hibiki giggling before hopping out of the bed.

Dita did a ballerina spin, "What do you think of the room? It's all neat and tidy!"

Hibiki asked her, "Neat? What's so neat about this?" Dita presents him the alien pillow she made for him. What did she get in return? Getting the boot out of his room along with her decorations.

Alex was helping Meia configure a new formation that Meia had been working on when they hear the door slide open showing who it was.

Meia raised an eyebrow, "Dita?"

Dita said, "Oh, hey Meia and Alex."

'What did Hibiki do this time?' Alex thought after judging the sad tone in Dita's voice.

Dita told them what happened, "And after that, he kicked me out."

Meia said, "Dita, I'm not good with words and I don't want to increase your curiosity but..."

Dita looked at her, "But what?"

Meia finished, "I don't think it's right trying to force your way into someone's heart when they are not ready." That didn't lift Dita's mood, in fact it made her worse. The redhead throws rocks into the stream at the Nirvana's garden.

She asked, "Why? Why? Why? Why?! I just want to know more about Mr. Alien." Dita sinks to her knees as Paiway takes a picture.

The nurse said, "I took a picture of you with this new aura camera Parfet made. Dita, are you sad?"

Dita answered in a blank tone, "Ain't it obvious? It's like the time when I had a pet blue bird I took real good care of it but one day it began losing its energy and died."

Paiway suggested, "Well, don't you think it died because you didn't give it alone time?"

Dita asked, "Are you saying that I am bothering Mr. Alien?"

The nurse said in her puppet voice, "Well, he did say that you were bugging him constantly."

Dita lowered her head, "I see."

Paiway realized her mistake and tried to rectify, "Hey, I was kidding! Come on, Dita!" Meia tells the Magno through the monitor that she'd like to solidify the Dread formation since they have the time.

Magno told her, "You and BC are cut from the same cloth. Why don't you two relax a little?"

Meia said, "With all due respect, the day of our planet's annihilation is fast approaching. It'd be wise to prepare ourselves."

Magno sighed, "You're as stubborn as ever." Hibiki enters the meeting room ignoring Meia's comment of being late.

Jura asked, "Where's Dita?"

Hibiki replied, "How should I know? What do I look like, her baby sitter?"

'Sounds more like a lover's quarrel to me.' Gascogne thought.

Dita enters the room and sits down.

Meia started, "Okay, now that everyone's here I would like to discuss the new formation we'll be trying starting with Dita combining her Dread with Hibiki's..."

Dita interrupted, "No. Forget about it because I'm not combining with him anymore!" Everyone was shocked at the announcement even Kyle had shock written all over his face.

Jura teased, "Aha, I get it. You've started to get bored with Mr. Alien haven't you?"

Dita shook her head, "No I figured out he isn't happy with me so from now on you can combine with him, Jura." The blonde-haired woman blinks in surprise she didn't see that one coming. Normally they fight over who gets to combine with Hibiki's Vanguard. Hibiki starts to panic a little.

Meia said in a calm yet commanding voice, "Dita, I will not tolerate the mixing of private matters in this room. This isn't a game we're playing!" The situation gets worse because throughout the simulation, Meia had to call out Dita's name a few times.

Gascogne stated, "This is no good, the girl's mind is someplace else." Lunchtime comes around and the crew heads for the cafeteria to eat. That's when Jura noticed something odd, Dita was sitting next to Meia and Kyle while Hibiki sits at a table by himself.

Jura said, "You know something really strange is going on."

Barnette looked at what her friend meant and nodded, "You're right."

Jura asked, "You think this is my big chance?" Barnette struggles to find an answer and face faults when Jura starts to wickedly laugh.

Duero takes the seat right to Hibiki.

The Vanguard pilot said, "What's the matter, doc? You can sit across from me, you know."

Duero explained, "I believe that seat is reserved for Dita." He then recommended in a doctor voice, "You should increase your calcium intake. You don't want to suffer calcium deficiency."

Hibiki fired back, "You should mind your own business."

"What's the matter, Dita? You not hungry or something?" Kyle asked when he saw that Dita hadn't touched her food.

Dita declared, "I've decided I am going to change!"

Kyle stopped eating to look at her, "Why? I think you're fine the way you are now." Dita turns around to look at Hibiki, who starts wolfing down his food like there's no tomorrow. He somehow avoids choking on his food.

Once lunch was over, Hibiki heads for his quarters in the brig pushing Pyoro out of his face, what he didn't expect was Alex leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Mia was with him. She enjoyed Alex's company it made her feel happy. Another feeling came with it, whatever it was she liked it.

Hibiki asked him in irritation, "What do you want?"

Alex said, "I noticed your relationship with Dita hasn't progressed. Why?"

The Vanguard said, "She's annoying, that's why! She comes barging into my room and hangs UFO crap in it without my permission then sleeps in my bed!"

Alex replied, "She's just trying to be nice to you, that's all. Why don't you try hanging out with Dita? Who knows, maybe it'll open doors to future events."

Hibiki snapped, "Why should I be friends with her? All she talks about is aliens and doesn't call me by my name. She is damn annoying!" They both hear a gasp behind Hibiki and they spot Dita standing with a hurt look on her face. Alex quickly realized the redhead was standing there listening to everything before he could take a step towards her Dita runs out of the room, leaving a trail of tears in her wake.

'He hates me!' Dita thought as she cried.

Back in the brig Mia glares at Hibiki and was about to sock him when Alex held up his arm to stop her looking at the Aurelian, she sees him shaking his head no.

Alex said, "Nice one, kid. Women like Dita are more emotionally tuned than men are. What you did was hurt Dita's feelings."

Hibiki ran a hand through his hair, "Damn it, what am I supposed to do?"

Alex told him, "That's up to you. Though one advice I can give you is apologize to Dita, it will cheer up. This can repair the damage your outburst did. Her cheerful personality reminds me of someone I knew from my childhood days." A faraway look appears on the young man's face.

Hibiki said, "You certainly know your stuff about women." Mia nods in agreement.

The 17-year old explained, "Remember I come from a society where men and women live together, even have kids. However, my childhood wasn't exactly what you call exciting. You see my father was an alcoholic and mother used to be one until she decided she needed help and went into rehab. After completing the 60 day program, she found a high-paying job in the aviation signing up for a mechanic on transport aircraft eventually working her way up to maintaining fighter jets. Over the next few months, my mother's already deteriorated relationship with my father went further downhill when mother said she's filing for divorce and sole custody of me. To be honest, I hated my father. He was scum not that anyone had the balls to tell that to his face. The divorce sent my father off. He turned his rage on her grabbing a kitchen knife and tried to stab mom but she avoided every strike. He directed his murderous gaze on me. My blood froze by those eyes it was like staring at some devil. I tried to run but he quickly caught up to me and warned that if mom went through the divorce, he'd kill me. Mom stood defiantly and was about to disarm him when my dad threw me out of the second story window at full speed, glass and all. The last thing I remember was a sickening crunch of bone and glass shards piercing my flesh before I passed out from the pain. When I awoke, my mother told me I was in the hospital and just got out of surgery. Turns out the fall severed my spine in half and there was the possibly that even if they reattached it there was very little chance I could walk again. The surgeon who worked on me said I had childhood arthritis in my lower back and that impact crush most of my lower spinal column. What I found out next completely shocked me beyond recognition." He turned around and lifted his shirt, showing a scar line where the incision was, "The surgeon said that he could prevent me being wheelchair bound forever by constructing a prosthetic replica of the lower spinal cord. Built out of titanium because of the metal's strength and light weight, he placed it where my organic version was. The next two months were spent learning how to walk again." He knocks on the area, hearing the distinct metal thud produced and lowers his shirt.

Hibiki said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Alex went on, "You two are the first ones I told. No one knows it, not Kyle. Please don't tell him, I don't want to burden him more. Hell, my incident looks sane compared to what Kyle went through."

Mia placed her hand on the pilot's shoulder, "Your secret is safe with us. We won't tell anybody."

Alex said, "Thank you, Mia. As for you, Hibiki you should apologize to Dita before it's too late. Don't make a mistake that cannot be fixed." Bart finds himself sitting on a couch with Barnette and Jura. The brunette can only wonder what part the helmsman had to play.

Bart asked, "So what do you need me for?"

Jura explained, "I want you to become friends with Dita. You see, she's been getting in my way recently so I recommend you become her baby sitter that way I can have the boy all to myself."

'Sometimes I wonder what's going through your mind, Jura.' Barnette thought.

Bart asked Jura, "What's in it for me?"

The blonde-haired Dread pilot said, "Think about it. You'll eat more healthy food and be treated like royalty."

Bart said, "Royalty, huh?" He thought up an image of him being fanned by two lovely women and a mischievous smiled formed on his face, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea."

Jura sighed dreamily, "I wanna do it soon!" She pictures her and Hibiki sailing through the cosmos on a golden craft.

They began laughing while Barnette comically sighed, "I can't keep up with them anymore." Gascogne looks stuff over when she hears the door open and looks over her shoulder to see Hibiki entering Reg Central. The young Tarak thought the place was empty. When he spotted the woman, he turns to leave.

Gascogne called out as she held up a deck of cards, "Hey, if you're bored maybe you can hang out here for a while."

Hibiki somewhat smiled, "I guess it won't hurt." After pulling up a chair to sit on, they start the game by drawing their starting hand.

Gascogne asked, "What happened between you and your partner. And I'm not talking about your Vanguard I mean with Dita."

Hibiki wondered, "What makes you think she's my partner?"

The Reg leader replied, "You two seem like an excellent combination to me."

Hibiki showed his hand, "How about this? Three of a Kind!"

Gascogne showed hers, "Full House." While they play another round, Dita looks through the telescope Parfet built inside the Nirvana's garden. The zero lighting allows her to look into the nebula ahead of them to see countless stars forming inside the cloud of dust and gas, their glow illuminating the stellar nursery like Roman candles. Kyle was with them after deciding to stop with his little obsession to find out whether Aurelia persevered in his squadron's absence or not.

Dita gasped, "Wow, it's so pretty!"

Parfet asked, "Do you like it?"

The redhead nodded, "It's amazing, Parfet. The stars are so close it feels like I can reach out and touch them! With this I'll discover new UFOs and aliens!"

Hearing Dita sigh, Parfet asked, "Something wrong?"

Dita waved her hands, "No, everything's fine!"

Parfet titled her head, "Did you get into a fight with Hibiki or something?" Dita proceeds to tell them what happened.

She concluded, "That's why I have decided to stay away from him."

The engineer asked, "Why?"

Dita responded, "Because Mr. Alien thinks I'm nothing more but a nuisance so I decided to stay away from him for his own good."

Parfet said, "I see. I don't think he's not much of a wimp in my opinion. Just a little...hard to understand at first."

Dita admitted, "I wanted to get to know Mr. Alien better but it feels like I am doing something wrong. Parfet, is it wrong to know more about something?"

Parfet explained, "When I get my hands on a new machine, I want to find out what it makes tick both inside and out. You love something you want to know more about."

Dita asked in hope, "Love?" A strange warmth creeps into her heart.

Parfet chuckled, "But there's no way a man and woman can fall in love with each other."

'I wouldn't be so sure about that.' Kyle thought then noticed Dita lower her head.

Parfet informed, "The telescope wasn't the only thing I wanted to show you, Dita. I have something else if you're interested." She pulls over a portable computer and types in the constellation Virgo.

A female computer voice said, _"Virgo. The faithful century sign of the year. If you're honest with your feelings you will have very good luck."_

Parfet stated, "I added astrology and compatibility to this."

Dita looked at her, "Compatibility?"

Parfet suggested, "Why don't you find out what your compatibility is with him? I downloaded all the information about everyone on the ship. All you have to do is type his name in and see what comes out." Dita types in Hibiki's name on the keyboard nervously and presses the enter key. Suddenly the computer mysteriously short circuits and Dita faints.

At Reg Central, Gascogne pulls in the chips she won in their last round of cards, "Well, that was fun. Let's do it again sometime."

Hibiki growled, "This calls for one more match."

Gascogne shook her head, "Not gonna happen. You can't get things done when you let your emotions run wild. Once you got that ironed out, come see me."

Hibiki glared, "What are you talking about?"

The Reg leader told him, "Listen up. The whole point about this game is to read each other's minds. You need to think with a clear head not with emotion clouding your judgment, that can lead to disastrous results."

Hibiki looked away, "I just been under a lot of stress."

Gascogne smirked, "I think it's more of something you can't get your mind off of namely a certain red-haired girl." Parfet rushed Dita to the infirmary where Duero examined her using a hand-held diagnostic machine.

Duero said, "She looks fine and I don't see any external injuries."

Parfet sighed in relief, "Thank goodness."

Duero asked Dita, "Have you ever collapsed like this before?"

The redhead shook her head, "No, this is the first time it happened."

The doctor ordered politely, "Do you remember how you felt before you collapsed? If you do, please tell me."

Dita placed a hand on her chest, "Here, where my heart is. It felt like it was being pinched really hard I felt dizzy then confused and the next thing I knew I was here."

Parfet fiddled with her fingers, "I'm sorry."

Dita shook her head, "Don't worry, Parfet I know you were trying to cheer me up." They hear the computer make some strange noise.

Duero said, "Again?" He begins typing on the keyboard.

Parfet asked, "Something wrong?"

Duero told her, "Nothing to worry about. This happens every now and then but I must admit I'm not fully acclimated to it yet."

Parfet walked over, "Let me see. What's this? The rudimentary circuits are cut off! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Duero apologized, "I'm sorry. I felt that I shouldn't bother you after every battle." Dita sneaks out of the infirmary and heads for the garden.

'I wished one day that I would find an alien and they would take me away. I thought my wish was granted when I met Mr. Alien but I don't care about it anymore. I wonder what's wrong with me? I don't want Mr. Alien be mad at me!' Dita thought in sadness.

Suddenly her eyes detected flashes of light and a familiar enemy returned, "Ah, it's the bad aliens!" The Nirvana's radar picks them up as well.

Amarone informed, "Scanners have picked up a large formation of cube-types, MiG-21s, Su-27s and MiG-31s. Distance 2,000Gr and closing fast."

BC ordered, "Dread team, get out there!" The fighters take off to engage the Harvesters.

Meia noticed something was off, "Where's Jura? She's supposed to be out here!"

Barnette placed a gloved hand over her mouth and blinked in realization, "Uh-oh!" Bart and Jura say cheers before downing more alcohol, it seems they forgot about the alarm.

Jura said, "Soon my Dread will combine with the Vanguard and something wonderful will be born."

Bart added, "And I'll become the new captain of the Nirvana, right?" They both laugh hysterically and kick their feet in the air.

Meia said,_ "We'll worry about that later. Dita, I'm going with you and Hibiki."_

Dita said hesitantly, "Okay."

Hibiki suddenly called out, _"Hey! Listen, I'm...sorry for the way I acted earlier. Just keep being yourself, okay?"_

Dita brightened, "Right! Let's combine!" The two craft combine to form Vandread Dita and move out to attack the Harvesters. Nearby, Alex smiles.

'With this, their relationship is stronger than ever. Who knows? Maybe it'll blossom into love soon.' He thought.

Elsewhere, inside the headquarters on an unknown planet, Francesca walks through a set of doors leading to an office.

She approaches the man sitting in a leather chair.

The man said, "I take it your confrontation went well?"

Francesca nodded, "Yes, Gryphus 1's skills have remained sharp since the Aurelian War. In fact Gryphus Squadron is part of a crew of Mejale space pirates alongside male prisoners of Tarak." The man turns his chair around showing his identity.

He looked to be 23 years of age, stood at 6'5 inches tall, had dark eyes, short black, fair skin tone and lean yet toned physique. His attire was composed of a black military suit with many medals to show his high military rank.

The man interlocked his fingers, "Space pirates, huh? Very interesting. What about the data you recorded during your battle with Nemesis? Do you have it?"

Francesca handed him the tape, "Of course I do, what kind of person do you take me for? What do you plan on doing with it, Diego Navarro?"

The now mentioned man grinned, "It's a surprise. Don't worry I remember the agreement we have. You will be rewarded handsomely when Nemesis and his new allies are no more."

Francesca said, "Good because if you didn't I would kill you. How's the Gleipnir Project coming?"

Navarro answered, "It's coming along nicely. Soon there will be more improved Gleipnirs out there on the battlefield each one deadlier than the last. You're dismissed." Francesca straightened for a second before leaving the room.

'Foolish man, you won't get the chance to see Kyle dead because he's my pray. If you think you can take it away then you're sorely mistaken.' Francesca thought with a demonic grin on her face.

Her psychotic laughter echoes throughout the hallway scaring anyone who happened to be nearby.

A/N: Chapter 7 done. *Sigh* This chapter has always been a pain in the ass to write.

Alex told Hibiki and Mia about his past that he never told anyone not even his flight lead.

Kyle wanted to know what Aurelia's fate is after their disappearance.

Lastly Diego Navarro is planning something for Kyle. Whatever it is, it's nothing good.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 8.

Vader 23A


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A Pilot's Hellish Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discover: Gryphus 1

Kyle tossed and turned in his sleep, sweating profusely as one certain nightmare plays through his head over and over. He shoots up breathing heavy and in a cold sweat. Parts of Kyle's hair was matted to his drenched face. Finding it impossible to go back to sleep, Kyle gets out of bed and hops into the shower. Quickly drying off and changing into fresh clothes, Kyle puts his shoes and leaves his room somehow aware of his surroundings. He eventually wanders into the cafeteria, grabs a cup of coffee and sits down at some table after grabbing whatever food was available.

A voice said, "It's not like you to sleep in this late, Kyle. You missed breakfast." Kyle looks up to see Meia staring at him with her own cup of coffee.

Kyle stated, "Had a nightmare."

Meia noticed Kyle's hand shaking, "That bad, huh?"

Kyle nodded, "Yeah. Thought I buried that memory but it refuses to stay away."

Meia offered, "Would you like to talk about it? It might make you feel better." Kyle contemplates on whether he should or not. His past was something Kyle kept pretty quiet about since it brought with it bad memories some that he regrets.

The Aurelian sighed, "You think you can handle what I'm about to tell you?"

Meia nodded, "Yes, I am."

Kyle asked, "No matter what?"

Meia nodded again, "Yes." Sighing Kyle gathered his thoughts, he never talked about his past for good reason. And yet Meia is offering him to tell her. Brave or foolish the young pilot begins the story.

(This flashback gets graphic towards the end. For those who don't like or underage, turn away now. You have been warned.)

Flashback

_Kyle was born out of a family of three._

_Jessica Masterson was born on December 5, 2000, Kyle was born one year later on February 19, 2001 and Sara was born on March 21, 2004._

_They drove their parents crazy as kids do but they were behaved kids overall. Their hobbies and future dreams differed from one child to the next._

_Jessica was social, friendly and loved music. She dreamed of becoming a lead singer of her own band and travel the world entertaining fans._

_Kyle loved science fiction movies particularly Predator and the Star Wars saga, having all six films in his possession and would dress as either the Predator or Darth Vader on Halloween each year. If anyone asked anything related to science fiction Kyle would talk about it for hours. In addition to being bookworm smart of sci-fi stuff, he had a passion for airplanes. He had models of almost every military plane in existence ranging from the P-51 Mustang to the infamous SR-71 Blackbird. He dreamed of one day becoming a fighter pilot._

_Sara had massive collections of anime, manga, DVDs and anime movies. There was no anime show she hadn't seen or heard about, she even did cosplay of her favorite anime characters. Her dream was becoming an anime movie director. Because of the way she dressed Sara got picked on at school, this caused the people who picked on her to get taught a lesson courtesy of Jessica. Ironic enough, Sara's older siblings attended the same school. After doing research, Michelle Masterson discovered that the school her kids were going to had bad testing scores and ethnics weren't meeting the standards. This made Michelle send her kids to one of the best schools in Griswall._

_Things were great until tragedy struck on April 3, 2013 when their father Daniel Masterson, an oil worker died of an accident on one of the many oil platforms at the Antarctic circle. He was 40 years old when it happened. The family was devastated. They eventually came to terms with his death and moved forward._

_Two years later, on August 30, 2015 war broke out between the Republic of Emmeria and Federal Republic of Estovakia on the Anean Continent, north of Yuktobania. It began with the invasion of Gracemeria, the capital of Emmeria. The invasion took the country by surprise and its pilots scrambled to intercept them._

_Seeing his dream coming true, Kyle, who was 15 back then volunteered to help Emmeria and joined the Aurelian Air Force. This led to a serious of events that would forever shape his life. After doing everything he could to help the Garuda Team of the Emmerian Air Force's 28th Tactical Fighter Squadron repel the first attack, he ended having to retreat after the arrival of ace pilots from the Estovakian Air Force's "Strigon Team" led by Lieutenant Colonel Victor Voycheck. While his allies were thinking of what they can do to defeat the invaders, whether by fate or chance, Kyle came face to face with the greatest fighter pilot in history: Ken Kitsuragi also known as Mobius 1 and The Grim Reaper._

_He was 31 years old, stood at 6'4 inches tall, medium-length brown hair, amber eyes, tanned skin and toned build._

_Ken said, "You must be Kyle Masterson I have heard about. Nice to meet you, name's Ken Kitsuragi or more commonly known as Mobius 1."_

_Kyle gasped, "Oh, my god the greatest fighter pilot ever to soar through the skies is standing in front of me!"_

_Seeing the immense potential emitting within the teenager, Ken offered with a smile, "How would you like to become my student, Kyle? I see a lot of me inside you: You're driven, strong-willed and calculating." After thinking about it Kyle agrees. _

_Over the following weeks, Ken taught Kyle everything he knew including how to stay calm under pressure, watching your back and your wingmen, how to pilot his fighter jet better and both armed and unarmed combat. This made Kyle arrogant thinking he was better than the other pilots but after being defeated by Ken during a close-quarters combat training session, the Grim Reaper made Kyle realize arrogance can get you killed. Taking this to heart, Kyle changed his way of thinking and became more self-controlled and ultimately conquered his arrogance. Ken told Kyle he was his finest student, saying that he was a natural talent with flying military aircraft. Kyle accepted the praise with great sense of pride. Although he eventually stood on even ground he could never defeat Ken in combat, armed or unarmed. They got to know what each other's hobbies were, what they disliked, what their future goals were, etc. They soon forged a strong friendship and respect to each other. The next day Ken introduced Kyle to some of his earlier students._

_He said they were called Tianlong Squadron and a Foreign Covert Allied squadron helping Emmeria in the war._

_The squadron leader was a Chinese man named Chang Shengli. He was the oldest of the group at 23 years old, stood at 6'1, dark brown eyes, black hair, tanned skin and toned figure. He was wearing the desert yellow g-suit of Foreign Covert Allied squadrons._

_His wingman was a beautiful Japanese woman named Mori Akaboshi. She recently turned 21 years old, 5'7 in height, dark brown, red hair that was bob-cut in style, high B cup breasts, fair skin and slender body that made men drool. She donned the same desert yellow g-suit her flight lead wore._

_The last member of the squad was the youngest at 19 years of age, 5'6 inches tall, blue eyes, short brown hair, 42D cup breasts, mild skin tone and an alluring figure. Her name was Catherine Morgan and obviously British in appearance. She also wore the desert yellow g-suit her squad mates had on._

_They all flew the J-10 multi-role fighter._

_Chang said, "Who's this, Ken? Your new student?"_

_Ken nodded, "Yep. This is Kyle Masterson, quite talented for someone of his age."_

_The Chinese man extended his hand, "Hi, I'm Chang Shengli. Nice to meet you, Kyle."_

_Kyle shook it, "Chang Shengli. That means 'Always Victorious' in literary." Kyle frees the man's hand._

_Chang smiled, "You're pretty smart." Mori introduces herself in her native language but Kyle didn't understand._

_Ken translated, "She said, 'Hello, I'm Mori Akaboshi. Nice to meet you.' Akaboshi means Red Star in Japanese."_

_Kyle looked at his mentor in surprise, "You know Japanese?"_

_Ken grinned, "Rosetta Stone. It's a neat software program, you should try it sometime. It's the fastest way to learn a new language without needing to listen to long, boring lectures. The one I have offers multiple languages. I'm fluent in Russian, Spanish, Belgium and French. I'm learning Arabic though I must admit it's a challenge. I like challenges, however. It makes it more worthwhile in the end." Kyle quickly got along with Tianlong Squadron over the span of a few days._

_Mori challenged Kyle to a sparring match and Kyle initially declined. He was taught to respect women but after remembering it's just a spar he agreed._

_He gets into his fighting stance. The dominant arm was held behind the head while the left arm extended forward, the feet were shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent and the dominant foot was held back in preparation for forward movement._

_Mori's fighting stance had her arms stay close to her sides, the feet were evenly spaced and knees bent halfway down._

_They wait for the other to make a move. Soon it was Mori who made the first move._

_She charges at him with blinding speed and throws a kick that would have taken Kyle's head off had he not caught it, the momentum of the strike caused a powerful gust of wind to blow in all directions like a shockwave from a massive explosion. Kyle counterattacks throwing punches and kicks that Mori sidesteps or blocks. Unknown to her that's exactly what Kyle wants. His fighting motto was to hold back, settle in for the long haul and wait for the opponent to either become exhausted or makes a mistake then seize the opportunity to strike before the opponent could defend themselves. However, Mori's stamina was impressive meaning she can do an entire marathon before tiring._

_She stated, "If you think you're gonna tire me out then you underestimate me, Kyle." They continue their little spar hoping for the other to present an opening to exploit. To each other's surprise, they kept those openings tightly guarded._

_Chang and Ken watch from the sidelines._

_Chang commented, "Your student's fighting style is...unique, Ken."_

_Ken smiled, "Kyle fights cautiously when dealing with an opponent of superior skill. However, even veteran fighters can make mistakes that newcomers can exploit. That's what Kyle's plan is. He wants Mori to make a mistake that he can take advantage of. He knows when to play it smart and hold back and when to cut loose and overpower his opponent. Compared to you. Your mentality is go and try dominate the enemy with overwhelming power blows."_

_Chang huffed, "So what? It's not like you were any different at that age."_

_Ken looked at his first student, "Hm? Did you say something?"_

_'Damn you, Ken! You know that pisses me off to no end!' Chang mentally cursed at the jab Ken does to him occasionally._

_A gasp brings their attention back to the spar._

_Kyle spots an opening in Mori's defense and goes on the offense. Mori tries to counter but Kyle's attacks were coming so fast that it overwhelmed her and Kyle trips her and locks in an arm bar submission hold, applying pressure until Mori had no choice but to tap out._

_Over the next 3 months Emmerian forces on the mainland were continually forced to retreat to the West as constant Estovakian attacks overrun military bases and airfields. Ken, Kyle and Tianlong Squadron helped Garuda Team repel a bombing raid on the Emmerian base they were stationed at. A series of intense missions followed this and Kyle had suspicions that there was a spy among them. He was soon proven right during a joint land, naval and air mission, the fighter squadrons under Mobius 1's command turned on him, Kyle and Tianlong Squadron. Most members of the allied squadrons survived but Catherine's plane suffered heavy damage and had to retreat for repairs. The traitors were destroyed. Eventually the tide of war began to turn in Emmeria's favor, able to push Estovakia back and Kyle and Mobius 1 fought with Strigon Team and Mobius showed why he was called The Grim Reaper. Tianlong Squadron had to cover a ground team during the joint assault._

_Eventually the war came to an end and peace talks were held between the two countries. Voycheck and "The Generals" were rounded up and detained at prison camps. The whole reason behind the war is that a meteor shower from the Ulysses1994X04 Asteroid (From Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies) devastated Estovakia while Emmeria was left unscathed. The Generals took control of Estovakia and united the country, building up their military strength then invaded Emmeria._

_Standing outside the flight gate of Emmerian Airlines Flight 134 that will take Kyle home, the pilots say their good-byes._

_Chang said, "It was nice flying with you, Kyle. Good luck in your future endeavors."_

_Kyle nodded, "Thank you, I will."_

_Mori hugged the teenager next, "May God watch over you, Kyle-kun."_

_Kyle chuckled, "Same to you, Mori. Hope we see each other again someday."_

_Catherine gave him a thumbs-up and winked, "Don't be a stranger. Good luck finding that perfect someone, kid! I want details when it happens!" Kyle blushes at that._

_Ken approached his student, "You are one hell of a pilot, Kyle. Your potential is unlimited, I can see it. There's a present for you back in Aurelia. Hope you like it."_

_Kyle saluted, "I will." He walks through the gate and the door closes._

_The flight back home was peaceful for a change. Landing at Aurelia International Airport, Kyle steps out of the door to be greeted by his family. He kept in touch with them over Skype and told them about the war. After briefly returning to Cape Aubrey Airbase to give his report on the Anean Continental War, Kyle went to see what present Ken gave him. It was an F-22 Raptor!_

_'Thank you, Ken!' Kyle thought._

_Over the next 5 years, things were peaceful for the Masterson family._

_On October 5, 2020, everything changes forever._

_While he was out doing errands for his mother, some dangerous looking guys follow Kyle and once within range the leading one knocks the 19-year old out and drags him somewhere._

_Kyle comes to and takes in his surroundings, soon discovering he was in some sort of building and tied to a wall._

_One man said, "Boss, he's awake." Footsteps alert Kyle to the person who arranged this._

_The figure walks out of the shadows to unveil itself as a woman about Kyle's age, green hair that went past her shoulders, gray eyes, tanned skin and stood at 5'6" tall. But the smile this person had on spoke of an agenda. An evil agenda._

_The woman said, "Ah, this is Kyle Masterson I have heard about. I must say you're really attractive for nineteen years old. I'm Francesca if you're wondering."_

_Kyle asked, "What do you want?"_

_Francesca's smiled turned sinister, "I offer you a chance to become my wingman. You see, I have flown alone for some time and need someone to watch my back. I've read about your role in the Anean Continental War and I have chosen you to be my wingman."_

_Kyle answered, "No way. I was taught to stay away from creeps like you!"_

_Francesca advised, "Reconsider, boy."_

_The Aurelian replied, "Screw you!"_

_Francesca sighed, "You leave me no choice, then. I didn't want to do this. On second thought, I do. Bring them here." Kyle hears struggling and the men bring in his two sisters!"_

_Jessica said, "Let us go, prick!"_

_Kyle warned, "You lay one finger on them I will rip your chest open and tear your vital organs out!"_

_Sara pleaded, "Help us, brother!" Francesca takes in their suffering with sick pleasure._

_It showed on her face, "Oh really? You're all tied up in the moment. You should have accepted my offer." She turned to her lackeys, "Do whatever you please with them." The men look at Jessica and Sara with lustful faces._

_Kyle watches in horror as her sisters' clothes were ripped off and the men inserted themselves inside them, screams of pain and disgust escape the sisters' mouths as they are raped. They scream as their rapists empty their seed inside them. Seething with rage, Kyle struggles against his bindings wanting nothing more than tear those sick fiends apart for defiling his sisters. However, a hard punch to the stomach stops him in his tracks. Looking up he glares at Francesca who laughs at the torment the Masterson siblings are experiencing. He notices Francesca raising her arm for something and realization forms on the Aurelian's face._

_He spewed with venom, "DON'T YOU DARE DO IT, YOU DEMON BITCH!"_

_Francesca laughed, "Too late for that! Finish it, boys!" The thugs do rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first. The bald one wins and he drags Jessica by the hair up to Kyle's face, sweat and bodily fluids on her skin and the scent it had made Kyle gag._

_Jessica said, "Kyle, this isn't your fault." Pulling out a pistol, the thug cocks it and points the gun at Jessica's temple, grinning at Kyle. Time slows down when he pulls the trigger and Jessica's brains blow out then her lifeless body falls to the ground. A pool of blood slowly forms._

_Kyle shouted, "Jessica!" A cocking noise directs Kyle's attention to the second thug who points his shotgun at Sara then fires. At point-blank range the girl's skull was almost blown off. Kyle's rage turns white-hot and he resumes trying to free himself. The thugs' laughter fuels the fire inside him._

_Francesca said, "Not done yet." She brings his attention to the TV where another one of her lackeys held a camera and records an entire squadron of B-52 bombers filling the sky over downtown Aurelia._

_On the streets, people are going about their business when the air raid sirens go off and they look up to see bombers flying overhead. The distinct sound of bombs falling echo through the sky and moments later clouds of smoke fill the sky as the bombers unleash their payload on the unprepared town. For 15 minutes a vision of hell loomed over the town until the last of the bombers left. What's left is a scene of utter devastation._

_Buildings were leveled, fires raged from ruptured gas lines, people stood shell-shocked at what just happened. Firetrucks and other emergency services flood the street in hoping to find survivors underneath piles of rubble._

_Kyle lowered his head and was completely silent. What he just saw left him speechless._

_Francesca left the room they were in and orders her men to watch him._

_Minutes tick by until the men got bored and left, when they were gone Kyle breaks free of his restraints and lands on his knees._

_He walks over to Jessica and falls to his knees as tears land on the concrete floor, shaky hands reach out to pull the young woman's lifeless body to him. Kyle wished it was one bad dream and he'd wake up in his home with his family there. Such wishful thinking was pushed away by the pain he felt. Looking at the guns their executioners carelessly left Kyle grabs them and makes sure the guns still had ammo then sets off. Footsteps alert Kyle that someone's coming and presses himself against the wall to let the footsteps walk past him. Confirming the identities as Francesca's henchmen, Kyle quietly walks up behind them and fires the pistol killing both men instantly. He then searches for his real target._

_Arriving in a hanger Kyle looks in all directions for Francesca but it's quiet, too quiet._

_A whooshing sound fills Kyle's ears and points his left arm forward only to have it get cut off by a machete and bullet in his right shoulder. Kyle falls on his back, daggers of pain shoot through his body like dozens of angry hornets. Francesca steps out of the shadows wearing an amused look on her face._

_Francesca said, "Did you really think I wouldn't know? I let you kill those two because they outlived their usefulness. You would have been a far greater ally to me than the others. The world we could've created. Your sentimentality held you back, however."_

_Kyle fired back, "It's called value of life, bitch! I don't see others as pawns like you do!"_

_Francesca laughed, "Value of life? My god, what have they been filling your head with these days? Life isn't about sunshine and butterflies, boy it's about survival of the fittest. You either adapt or perish."_

_Kyle growled, "You're pure evil, plain and simple!"_

_The green-haired woman said, "Look around you, Kyle. See those yellow devices on the support columns? They're the C4 plastic explosive. Since I have the feeling you will become a thorn in my side if you stay alive, I felt it would be nice to have you die with your sisters. Good-bye." Walking out of the door and into the smoky hazed daylight, Francesca pushes the button. The explosives detonate blowing the building sky high, pieces of burning debris rain down._

_Eventually firefighters reach the area hoping to find survivors. The Battalion Chief leads the operation._

_He suddenly ordered, "Quiet!" He heard faint calls of help beneath the rubble and barked, "We got a survivor! Let's get him out of there!" With the help of heavy-duty equipment, the firefighters are able to pull Kyle out of the wreckage and paramedics load him onto a stretcher._

_Kyle gazes at the smoke pouring into the sky with lifeless eyes, faintly hearing one of the firemen say to the Battalion Chief they found two bodies._

_The Aurelian's rushed to the hospital and to the ER._

_The surgeons look over the X-rays of Kyle's injuries, weighing on how to go ahead with the surgery._

_One of them asked, "So what do we got?"_

_The lead surgeon looked over the report, "Kyle Masterson. Male. 5'10" tall. I'd say 165, maybe 170 pounds. In his late teens. His injuries include third-degree burns over 40% of his body, excessive blood loss due to severing of the left arm two-thirds below the elbow and possible lung damage. I say we go ahead and do the new surgery the Aurelian military developed."_

_His partner asked, "Are you sure? You do know what the side effects can be if it goes wrong, right?"_

_The lead surgeon looked at his friend, "I have saved lives for 12 years. I accept the risks during each operation." For the next 15 minutes, the surgeons work on repairing the damage on Kyle's body and once the surgery was done they put his hands in metal straps on the operation table. They removed all the surgery tools after the operation was complete and sanitized the area._

_Kyle's breathing let the surgeons know he was regaining consciousness so another man pulls the lever to raise the operation table until it was upright. Kyle slowly opened his eyes._

_A voice said, "Kyle, can you hear me?" The 19-year old turns his head at the direction the voice was coming from and soon discovers the user's identity._

_He was 21 years old, stood at 6'4, fair skin tone, short auburn hair, blue eyes and impressive build. He wore a blue T-shirt, black jeans, socks and black shoes with white trimming. His name was Kane Masterson also known as Cipher, the hero of Belkan War in 1995. Under normal circumstances, he'd be in his 60s or 70s but recent discovery in age reversal serums allowed Kane to re-enter his early 20s. He was told it was permanent meaning he would never age but he was still vulnerable to death._

_Kyle replied, "Yes, cousin. Where am I?"_

_His cousin explained, "You are fortunate. Engine 34 of the Aurelian Fire Department was scouring the area when they heard you. They were able to pry you out of the rubble and the ambulance drove you here where the surgeons operated on you to fix the injuries you sustained in the explosion. The bodies of your sisters were recovered seconds after you were."_

_Kyle asked, "Where is mom and Bianca? Are they safe? Are they alright?"_

_Kane hesitated before answering, "They were caught in the bombing raid. They didn't make it, Kyle. I'm sorry."_

_Kyle said, "You're...you're lying. They were alive, I felt it!" He began pulling against his bindings until they broke and Kyle stepped off the table and reared back, "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Later that day, the news confirmed it._

_The anchor woman said, "At 12:30pm, a Leasath bomber squadron appeared over downtown Aurelia and proceeded to bomb the town nearly off the map. Casualties are feared in the tens of thousands with another 2,000 missing or injured and still growing. Tim Brooks is live at the scene. Tim, you there?" A separate screen displays the man standing in the one of the many destroyed districts._

_The cameraman does the countdown with his fingers and then gives the go ahead._

_Tim said, "Yeah, I'm here Brittany. As you can see behind me it's utter devastation. No building was left standing due to the bombing raid and rescue workers are looking for survivors but fires are making it difficult. I received an update moments ago that Leasath has begun invading Aurelia by blitzkrieg tactics. I don't know the exact meaning behind this invasion but my gut's telling me that more bad things are on the horizon." Kyle ignores the rest of the report as he thought back on what the surgeons did on him._

_They replaced his severed left arm with a prosthetic one that was 30 years ahead of the competition, used serums to regenerate any tissue and hair lost to the extreme heat of the explosion and boosted his strength, stamina and endurance to superhuman levels. When put to use, his legs allowed Kyle to leap considerable distances and run up to 60 miles per hour. His augmented strength allowed him to lift a full-grown human off the ground with an outstretched arm, his stamina allowed Kyle to push himself harder and longer and his increased endurance made him highly resistant to pain._

_'I'm gonna go to my family's funeral then I'm going to kill a lot of people!' Kyle thought with murderous intent._

_He attended his family's funeral the next day and sat on a hill alone pain of loss gripping him like some hard vice. Kyle hugs his knees and gritted his teeth as tears run down his cheeks._

_He said, "Mother, sisters. Why? Why you?" Kyle holds his head, screaming in sadness as the tears increased. He lost everything in the span of one day: His home, his family, his way of life. All of that snuffed out within half a second!_

_Later that day he ordered for an armored g-suit be created, the suit didn't take long to make and the helmet was bit more difficult because of the vision modes and file system he asked be installed but it was still made. The weapons he asked for took an hour each to make. The blacksmith checked for any impurities in the metal and once satisfied that he found none, he installed the wrist blades into the left gauntlet and the mini-computer on the right one._

_Kyle steps into the g-suit and zips it up, he tested the wrist blade to make sure it worked right, put the M9A1 Barreta pistol in its holster, the katana in its sheath strapped to his left hip and finally puts the demonic helmet on. His eyes turn glowing red and his pupils became slits underneath the visor, rage flowing through his veins._

_Arriving at the nearby military base occupied by Leasath soldiers, Kyle activates the cloaking device rendering him invisible to normal means of detection._

_He sneaks in through an open window and quietly enters the base, landing on a skywalk. Using his thermal vision he spots two guards below him and he jumps down landing on the ground with a thud._

_One guard asked, "What was that?"_

_His friend replied, "Better check it out." Kyle waits for them to walk past him and then impales one of them with his wrist blade and shoots the other in the head. Letting the first guard slide off his weapon Kyle moves further into the base. He comes across what appears to be the cafeteria. Throughout the evening and into the night, all that's heard within the base are screams of horror, gunfire and steel cutting flesh apart. Kyle left no one alive! A fire soon breaks out and the vengeful teen corners his last bunch of victims in the giant hallway leading to the exit._

_One soldier pleaded, "Please, have mercy!"_

_Kyle answered, "What about my family or all those innocent who perished in the bombing raid? Did you show them mercy? Did you?!"_

_The soldier said, "We were following orders!"_

_Their invisible assailant growled, "Wrong answer!" He cuts the man's head off and the headless body slumps to the ground. Kyle deactivates the cloaking device to show himself._

_The other Leasath soldiers look at the monster standing before them. The blood dripping from his bladed weapons combined with the fire reflecting off the dark visor of his helmet made Kyle a frightening sight._

_The third soldier asked in horror, "Jesus Christ, what the hell are you?"_

_Kyle said, "I am your nightmare come to life! I am Death incarnate! You deserve no mercy for you have shown us none!" He pulled out two fragment grenades, "For your crimes you are condemned to eternal damnation. May hell welcome you with open arms!" He pulls the pin and throws the grenade near a generator that was dangerously close to exploding due to intense heat from the fire. Kyle walks out of the base and moments later the roof is blown sky-high from the force of the explosion._

_Fresh oxygen's sucked into the flames intensifying them._

_Kyle screams into the heavens letting out all his rage, sadness, anger, regret, every kind of emotion until he couldn't scream anymore._

_Next on his quest for vengeance was finding two targets. The first was finding Diego Navarro and make him pay for orchestrating the bombing of his town. The second person on his hit list was Francesca, the evil woman who destroyed his life. No she wasn't a human being, she was a demon wearing human clothes!_

_However, he first needed to drive Leasath out of his country. And that's what he did, he led Gryphus Squadron to victory after victory reaching a turning point when he shot down the Gleipnir the weapon not only responsible for the squadron's near destruction over Cape Aubrey but for allowing Leasath to claim 95% of Aurelian territory over the span of 10 days, earning him the nickname "Nemesis". Griswall was liberated days later and shortly after that Archelon Fortress and Fenrir, he shot down every Leasath plane that got in his way. When the reason for the war became known to the public, Diego Navarro fled and his whereabouts were unknown._

End of flashback

Meia was calm on the outside but she was seething on the inside at Kyle's tale of his tormented past. To have someone of his age go through so much pain and see his sisters being raped and murdered in front of him then lose the rest of his family to a bombing raid. She now understands the reason Kyle became like her: Very skilled pilot, capable squadron leader, calculating and closed his heart to the outside world.

When she regained her ability to speak, Meia said, "I'm sorry you had to experience that, Kyle." She gasps when she noticed tears falling, Kyle wasn't crying but he didn't bother to stop the tears either.

Kyle said, "I wasn't always like this, you know. In some ways I was like Dita: Cheerful, always looking on the bright side, naïve to the rest of the world. The Emmeria-Estokavia War and Aurelian War made me grow up. It made me realize the dark side of humanity and how we can be our own demise. You remind me of my second sister, Sara. She was brave, strong-willed but minus the arrogance. That's why I can only find closure when Diego Navarro and Francesca die at my hands. It's too late for me to find redemption or forgiveness, Meia. No matter what you say. And no, I don't want your pity either." He feels a hand on top of his and Kyle lifts his head to see Meia sitting next to him. When did she move to the seat next to his?

Meia hugged him to her chest, "You're not alone anymore, Kyle. This crew is like family. We watch out for each other and look for support when we feel sad." She discovered he was silent and said, "How long has it been since you had a good cry? You should let it out. You'll feel better once you do. It's not good keeping it locked inside." Those last words crumbled the defenses Kyle built around his heart and he lets out the pain and sadness he kept locked away for weeks.

Meia gently rubs his back and whispers soothing words in his ear.

Unknown to them, the crew watched the entire thing and they all had different reactions. Some were shocked beyond comprehension, some were enraged at the slaying of his family.

Belvedere had her hands over her mouth while tears ran down her face, "How could anyone do that to another person?"

Magno answered, "Someone who has no heart." Dita clings to Hibiki and he subconsciously holds her.

Alex and Eugene were silent, they knew Kyle was quiet about his past based on his behavior when someone brought it up.

They both prayed God would have mercy on the two people who ruined their flight lead's life because Kyle sure won't.

A/N: Chapter 8 done.

Here we get to know about Kyle's past, his involvement to the Emmeria-Estovakia War (Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation), his connection to Mobius 1 and Cipher, the death of his family and the impact it had on him. Lastly, the violent rampage he went on.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 9.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Vader 23A


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Looks are Deceiving

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

Ever since the crew heard about Kyle's past they questioned Mejale's beliefs of men. They thought men were nothing but animals, however after Kyle told about his tortured past they felt sorry for the young pilot. Barnette felt it was only fair to try at least get along with the Aurelian.

The Nirvana comes across some kind of space station. It was huge in size, gray in color and had a rotating disc that generated artificial gravity for the interior.

BC and Magno look at it through the screen on the bridge.

BC said, "So that's a mission, huh? Never thought I would see one."

Magno explained, "They were used as resupply stations or havens during the Colonization Era, pirates and smugglers called this place home but now it's a lifeless husk rotting away in space." Kyle leads Dita, Hibiki, Jura, Barnette and Pyoro through the station's interior. Jura asked them if they found any jewelry or fancy clothes, they're hers.

Kyle stands guard while Meia and Hibiki remove valuable parts from the mission's core.

Dita said, "I never imagined the captain would remember this station."

Pyoro corrected, "Actually it's called a mission."

Meia stated, "Okay, quiet you two. We're here for a reason and your chatter isn't helping."

Pyoro said, "All you're doing is stealing."

Meia cried, "Consider it gathering abandoned assets then!" They hear Kyle release the safety on his M-4 carbine assault rifle as Hibiki heard something fly past them. The two head to the direction the object went to and look around when the object jumps down from the support beams.

It was an orangutan with red fur, wore a single-strapped suit and boots. It flashes them a toothy grim before jumping at them, rushing past Hibiki and tackle Pyoro confusing the young lad.

Pyoro exclaimed, "Hibiki, help me!" Hibiki on the other hand stood there unsure of what to do.

A voice ordered, "Knock it off, Utan." The Vanguard pilot looks in front of him to spot a tall man in his 30s, wore tribal clothing, dark eyes, tanned skin tone, black hair that had an antenna-like strand that reached his chin, a gem rested on his forehead secured by a thin string and wore a patch over his right eye possibly due to an accident.

Hibiki said, "You're a man, aren't you? You are! Glad to see you." The stranger points his pistol at Hibiki making the Tarak teen stop in his tracks and suddenly uses him as a human shield, twisting Hibiki's arm and hiding behind him as Meia aims her laser ring at him.

The stranger stated, "You're a woman."

Meia coldly asked, "So what if I am?"

The man admitted, "It's my policy not to kill women." He releases Hibiki and the Vanguard pilot rotates his arm to make sure it worked properly.

'Jerk.' Hibiki thought.

The stranger felt something sharp pointed at his temple, "Okay. Looks like you got me outnumbered, huh?"

Kyle ordered, "Drop the weapon now. Do it or I'll do it myself."

Jura pointed her rapier at the back of the man's neck, "What's he doing here? He's a man."

Barnette snatched the pistol out of his hand then pointed her own, "Sure looks like it!" Despite being outnumbered 4-1 the man was perfectly calm that alone sent off warning alarms in Kyle's head.

He said, "I take it you're some kind of gang?"

Meia replied, "We prefer to be called pirates."

The man asked, "Oh? Even that lady over there?"

Hibiki blinked in surprise then snapped, "Hey I'm a guy, asshole!" The man exploded into laughter, "What is so funny?"

The one-eyed stranger calmed down enough to say, "I'm sorry about that, kid. It's just you look so adorable in that outfit." Hibiki was about to make a comeback when they hear Dita crying out for help, looking at the direction they see Utan licking Dita's leg. The man points over his shoulder as if asking for Meia's permission to stop what his companion was doing and Meia gives him permission with a nod.

He walked over and picked up his orangutan, "Alright, that'll be enough out of you Utan. Your partner's in trouble if you didn't notice and all you're doing is being useless." He grabbed Pyoro and whispered, "Now!" The man throws Pyoro at Meia knocking her off her feet, Barrette takes aim but Utan uses her as a springboard and the one-eyed man avoids the swing from Jura's rapier and vanishes.

Hibiki demanded, "You bastard, get back here!" The station rocks and Harvest unit emerge from the outer halls.

The raiding team runs to the door they came through.

Hibiki said, "Man, this sucks. What's going on now?"

Meia told him, "I guess pirates like us aren't exactly welcomed here!" They return to their fighters and join the battle.

Gryphus 1 flies his F-22 Raptor through enemy fire, barrel rolling against cube-types. After executing a split S maneuver, the Aurelian arms the AIM-9M Sidewinder and was just about to pull the trigger when 30mm bullets fly past his canopy. Looking up, he spots two MiG-21s diving from his 2 o'clock high. Turning hard left, Gryphus 1 switches to the XLAAM and gains a lock.

He called out, "Gryphus 1, Fox Three!" The missiles detach from the latches and scream toward the enemy fighters turning the MiG-21s into fireballs. He returns his attention to the cube-types, keeping an eye on the HUD in case they appear. Soon enough they do show up as red dots. Turning the stealth fighter to that direction, Gryphus 1 gets behind the cube-types pulling in closer to fire the M61A2 Vulcan Gatling cannon. The 20mm rounds tear the cube-types apart and searches the area for more targets. He knows the Harvesters are persistent foes.

'It doesn't matter how much they send, it proves their efforts are futile.' Gryphus 1 thought.

Crux finished downing some cube-types when he heard Dita asking Hibiki,_ "Mr. Alien, let's combine!"_

Hibiki turned it down, _"Thanks but no thanks!"_

Dita whined, "Why not?"

Meia ordered, _"Focus Dita, they're coming!"_ A swarm of MiG-31 Foxhounds appear out of nowhere and target Dita's Dread prompting her to evade. One round from the enemy's cannon clips her Dread's wing and follows her wherever she went.

Gryphus 2 dives in to rescue her, firing his F-22's Gatling cannon on the MiG-31s to get them off her. He pulls fancy maneuvers that take his opponents by surprise and quickly fires the XLAAM at four of them adding more to his kill record before switching to the Sidewinder. The missile produces the growling noise indicating it's detected the heat waves generated by the enemy's engines.

The pilot said, "Fox Two! Fox Two!" The Foxhounds release flares to shake off the heat-seeking missiles but these Sidewinders were modified, meaning they were a lot harder to shake off so flares won't save them. The Sidewinders obliterate their targets.

Gryphus 1 downs more cube-types and looks to his left and sees MiG-29 Fulcrums approaching Meia's 5 o'clock low, the light blue-haired woman was so focused on destroying the cube-type in front of her she was oblivious of the danger coming towards her. The F-22's afterburners light up and it accelerates toward the silver Dread.

Meia gains a lock when the missile warning goes off and she looks left to spots missiles closing in.

Gryphus 1 said,_ "Meia, watch out!"_ The Raptor approaches the Dread and that blinding light appears.

When it fades a new machine is born.

It bore resemblance to a hawk, was colored a majestic silver, razor-sharp talons and metallic wings. Hidden underneath the wings were LRSWM (Long-Range Swarm Missile).

Inside the new machine Meia and Gryphus 1 find themselves in a two-seated cockpit with Meia flying the plane and Gryphus 1 being the weapons operator.

The new machine flies through the battlefield at high speed and shakes off every missile fired at it. Readying the missiles, a series of locks appear on the screen in front of Meia and once all of them turn red, Gryphus 1 pulls the trigger unleashing hell on the poor MiG-29 Fulcrums. Spotting more Fulcrums swarming on the hawk-shaped machine, Meia notices a red button on the control stick next her thumb and presses it. The machine produces a thud and transforms into a female knight wearing a breast plate, helmet with bat wing-like ornaments on the sides, flowing red hair out the back of the helmet, skin color was added to make it look more human, metal gloves that went up to the elbows, artistic faulds (plate armor worn below the breastplate to protect the hips and waist), legs covered with stylish greaves and robotic feet. Its weaponry included a two-handed claymore sword and serrated, segmented whip rested on the left hip.

The tactical part of Gryphus 1 concluded this form was made for speed and agility, the armor only protected it from gunfire and missiles. It wasn't meant for prolonged combat. He needed to keep that in mind whenever this machine was used.

Gripping the claymore with both hands, the machine named Athena races toward the MiG-29s dancing around the enemy targets faster than the Fulcrums could respond and cuts them down one by one. More enemy reinforcements show up and Athena's segmented whip is drawn. Igniting the boosters to full power the silver armored machine meets them head-on, extending the whip to full length. It then starts swinging the whip its serrated design tear the MiG-29s apart. Wrapping it around one of the remaining Fulcrums, Athena spins to gain momentum and upon completing the last spin releases its captive. The MiG-29 crashes into its allies at extremely high velocity turning the group into a massive fireball.

Looking to his right, Gryphus1 spots Dita's Dread combining with Hibiki's Vanguard to form Vandread Dita.

Jura whined, _"Not fair! How could you do this? I won't forget this, Dita!"_

Dita stuck her tongue out and pulled her eyelid down, "Too bad, you won't be combining today. Alright, let's go!" Hibiki looks away with an irritated look on his face then buries it in his hand before shaking his head, while he's trying to be nice to the women these two were starting to annoy him.

Vandread Dita charges up its shoulder cannons and fires them at the mission destroying the structure in one shot.

Nearby the stranger watches in awe of the destructive power Vandread Dita had.

He said to his furry companion, "Utan, did you see what I saw?" Utan nodded and a devious smirk formed on the man's face, "Utan, my friend it looks like we've hit the jackpot." His ship vibrates as cube-types start attacking him.

The Harvesters didn't care who they targeted!

The stranger told his orangutan, "Go ahead, Utan knock yourself out." The orangutan hops into a red humanoid robot.

Utan goes trigger happy on the cube-types, the stranger runs a hand through his black hair as he watches the ammo gauges rapidly drop. After 2 minutes, all of the Harvesters are destroyed and Utan lets out a comical sigh.

The Nirvana watches the scene from their fixed position.

Magno said in disappointment, "What a shame. All of that useful material gone to waste."

The man replied,_ "That's my line. My ship was damaged because I chose to help you so what are you going to do about it?"_

Magno felt like her crew was insulted, "Who do you think you're talking to? We're pirates and we answer to nobody."

The man taunted, _"Oh really? Well then, you don't care what happens to this guy, do ya?"_ He shows them Pyoro.

Dita gasped, "We forgot Pyoro!"

Magno agreed reluctantly, "I guess we have no choice. Come on board."

The man smiled,_ "Right. Hope we can do some trading while at it."_ The screen closes afterward.

BC asked, "Are you sure this is wise, captain?"

Magno replied, "Pyoro is part of the crew, BC and besides..." She looked at the commander with a smirk, "...if he tries any funny business, we'll simply have to relieve him of all his wealthy possessions." The man's ship docks with the Nirvana and the ramp deploys giving him full view of the crew.

He rubbed his chin, "Hmm, this ship's crawling with beautiful women." He started walking down the ramp, "Name's Rabat, pleasure to meet you. Have a souvenir!"

'Handing out jewelry. Classic form of deception.' Kyle thought as he watched Rabat hand out jewel bands to the crew.

Rabat spotted Jura, "You're the one that wielded the rapier. Here take this band as a gift."

Jura declined, "No thanks, I'm fine." Kyle leaves the hanger to find out more about the trader, more importantly what his agenda was. If he can find out what, he'll expose Rabat for what he really is.

Alex said to Rabat, "You certainly know how to play smooth, do ya?"

Rabat turned at the pilot's direction, "Alex Irvine, is it? My client has told me about you. You're under the command of Kyle Masterson otherwise known as Gryphus 1 and fought in the Aurelian War together."

Alex's eyes narrowed, "Your client's very informative."

Hibiki cut in, "What you're doing is a complete disgrace. Real men show their teeth!"

Rabat showed his, "Like this? Huh?"

Alex advised, "Watch it, pal. Keep doing that and you'll find yourself missing the other eye."

Meia interjected, "That's enough! I'll take you to see the captain, follow me."

Rabat said, "Yes, ma'am. Your wish is my command." Alex watches Rabat leave the hanger with Meia that man gave off some bad vibes that Alex could feel.

On the bridge, Rabat talks with Magno.

The pirate leader explained, "These women are my crew, the men are from Tarak and Gryphus Squadron are from Aurelia, planet unknown." Magno was half true on that part, Gryphus Squadron told her they originate from Aurelia but not the planet. Whether they did it for personal reasons or not remains unknown to her.

Rabat was looking around the bridge until he pressed a button connecting him to Bart, "Don't catch a cold there, pal." Bart whimpers after the transmission ends.

Magno asked the man, "What is it you want exactly?"

Rabat shrugged, "Nothing, really. My ship got damaged in that battle so I thought I'd stay here while repairs are made and set up shop."

Magno narrowed her eyes, "That's fine by me." In the men's quarters, Duero had his own suspicious about Rabat.

Hibiki kicked a crate, "Damn, that guy's so annoying!"

Bart ate some pellets and said, "I think he's a nice guy."

Duero nodded, "That's what they say."

Hibiki grabbed a mob and bucket and left, "I'm out of here. Thinking of that jerk makes me wanna puke!"

Duero cupped his chin, "Still, there's something odd about him." Rabat opens up a suitcase of jewelry to the women.

He said to them, "Behold. There's nothing on my ship I don't have."

Jura picked one up, "Do you actually wear all this?"

Rabat said, "Me wear them? Don't be silly. The universe is made up of both men and women."

Dita asked, "It's made up of men and women? Where do you come from, Mr. Trader?"

Rabat answered cryptically, "I can't come from the same place as you." He saw Parfet lay her eyes on an engine part, "You have a sharp eye. Install that and your engine output will increase to 120%! And since you're the first customer, I'll give it away for free!" The trader backs away when the women swarm in on the suitcase.

Paiway said, "Hey, what do you think?" She shows him the makeup she applied that makes her look like a clown.

Rabat explained, "Why don't you wait until you're older before trying makeup!" Hibiki mops the floor of Reg Central and the surprised Reg leader notices it.

She said, "Hmm, no wonder everything's so quiet around here. Usually Dita sticks to him like glue."

One stagehand told her, "It's not surprising, Gascogne. The new guy has gotten her attention as well as the others."

Gascogne sighed, "Young girls have short attention spans these days." She heard a thud and looked over her shoulder to see Hibiki buried underneath crates, "He's taking it pretty hard." BC enters the hanger Rabat's ship is stationed at, studying the condition.

'Strange. There's no damage to his ship whatsoever.' The platinum-haired woman thought.

Rabat asked her, "Looking for something?"

BC said, "Your ship appears undamaged."

Rabat shrugged, "The repairs were done earlier than I thought."

The commander pressed, "What's your real objective?"

Rabat said, "Doing trading, nothing more nothing less." He cupped her chin, "In the meantime, how about we go somewhere private? Somewhere we can get to know each other better. Wait a minute, that smell. Smells like gunpowder. Right, maybe we'll have to take a rain check on her." Rabat moves away from BC when he felt something coming off the woman. He decides to head somewhere else.

Inside the engine room, Parfet installs the new engine part she got from Rabat and Pyoro runs away when he spots Utan coming towards him.

Parfet said, "Oh hello, Rabat. How's your ship coming along?"

Rabat answered, "It's coming along nicely!"

'What's that? Is that the Paksis?' He thought as his eyes found the Nirvana's power source.

Magno lays out a deck of tarot cards as she along with BC share their suspicions of Rabat.

BC said, "Something's not right about that guy."

Magno nodded, "He knows what planets we're from, Gryphus Squadron and the situation we're in. Perhaps he is conspiring with the enemy?" She looked at the tarot card she picked up, "The 'Hermit,' eh? An outsider, one who searches. An enemy or perhaps something more?" Kyle continues hacking into the trader's ship, he may not be a computer whiz but he has reasonable enough knowledge of computers to know what he is doing.

He encounters a firewall that prevents him from reaching his objective whatever it was, it must be extremely important for this firewall being here. First few attempts to bypass it fail but around the sixth time, Kyle succeeds in breaking through the firewall and access the journal entries Rabat uses to keep track of his trading business. What he finds sends disgust and unadulterated anger through his veins. This man sells parts to the inhabitants of colonized planets promising them the technology will help propel them forward. Unknown to them, he secretly collects information about the planet and inhabitants. He sends the collected information to his client. Digging deeper, Kyle discovers Rabat's client being none other than the Harvesters! Essentially this man leads the sheep to the slaughter. A few days later the Harvesters would arrive to raze the planet and harvest the inhabitants' chosen organs.

'That slimy, backstabbing motherfucking piece of shit! He sells planets out to the Harvesters!' Kyle thought as he smashed the console down the middle.

BC was sipping her tea when Kyle enters the room.

Magno asked, "Kyle, what brings you here?" Judging by the seething anger emanating from the young pilot, Magno concludes Kyle must have found something to make him like that.

He walked over to her desk, "I've been doing investigation of my own about Rabat. Turns out the kind of job he does is not for the better of inhabited planets. Allow me to explain." He tells them everything and at the end, Magno was furious and BC gags.

Magno said, "So he sells parts out of good faith but in reality, he sells them to the enemy. How revolting! Thank you for telling us this, Kyle. Now that we have our proof I think it's time we kick our guest off my ship." Upon receiving word from Paiway that Rabat is heading for the hanger, he runs to the destination though Bart and Duero wonder which one he was more worried about, Dita or his Vanguard.

Hibiki arrives in time to see Rabat about to kiss Dita. A bullet cuts strands of Rabat's hair off gaining his attention, the trader looks down to see Kyle aiming his Beretta at him.

He called out, "Get away from her now!"

Rabat glared at him, "You're a really snotty little boy, you know that? Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

Hibiki said, "A person like you has no right to call himself a man! Is that eye of yours working?"

Rabat pointed at his left eye, "Sure is." He lifted the eye patch to show a completely healthy right eye, "So's this one!"

Hibiki growled, "You little! You have outlived your stay here so why don't you leave?"

The trader challenged him, "And if I don't?"

Hibiki retorted, "Then I'll throw you out!" Rabat glares at him before walking down to his level.

The Vanguard pilot was about to charge when Kyle pulled him back, "Let me handle this one, Hibiki. This man needs to be taught a lesson on what happens to traitors of mankind." Placing his gun away, Kyle calmly walks forward at first but changes to running. Rabat's eye patch flashes temporarily blinding Kyle the next thing he feels is Rabat's knee shoved into his gut. He quickly recovers and backhands Rabat then connects the spinning heel kick. Rabat finds himself on the ground and rolls away from a stomp that was aimed for his chest.

Kyle said, "You're a real piece of work, you know that? Selling planets out to the Harvesters so that you can not only make a profit but stay alive. Scum like you don't deserve mercy!" He parries every punch thrown at him and tackles Rabat, driving him into a nearby tall crate leaving a dent in the steel. Kyle aggressively drives his elbow onto Rabat's spine slamming the man's ribcage against his raised knee followed by slamming him to the ground over Kyle's shoulder. Rabat's knife misses its target as Kyle leaps back then grabs hold of the trader's arm to pull him in and unleashes punches to the ribs then finishes it with a backhand that almost knocked Rabat off his feet but he caught his balance at the last minute.

Eugene asked Alex, "Have you seen Kyle fight like this before?"

Alex shook his head, "Never. He's usually more reserved than this." Bruises lined Rabat's face and he likely had some cracked ribs.

'How can this kid so strong? I'm heavier than him but he's throwing me around like I was a sack of potatoes.' Rabat thought.

He gasps and lifts his arms up to block Kyle's roundhouse kick.

Kyle said, "In case you're wondering why I'm beating your ass like it's nothing it because my physical properties have been augmented to superhuman levels. In layman's terms, I'm stronger than the average human. If you have any last requests, Rabat better say them now." Seeing only the man's glare, Kyle concluded, "I guess it's time to end this. Say hello to Diego Navarro and Francesca for me when they join you in hell."

Rabat fired back, "I refuse to be humiliated by a child like you!"

As Rabat charged, Kyle retorted, "Well, this 'child' is about to end this fight, asshole!" He blocks Rabat's knife slashes before throwing punches to his face and kicks him away hard, Rabat rolls on the ground before crashing into another tall crate.

Kyle bellowed, "This ends now!" He cocks his fist back about to drive it through Rabat's skull when Meia shoots her laser inches from him.

Meia said, "That's enough, Kyle! You have proven your point there's no need for further violence!"

Kyle calmed himself down enough to say, "As you wish." He directed his gaze toward the bruised trader, "As for you I suggest you get your pathetic ass off this ship. Should we cross paths again, I will kill you. Personally!"

Rabat got up and noticed all the glares he was getting from the crew, "Okay, I take the hint when I'm not wanted. Come on, Utan we're leaving." Kyle brings his anger under control, he didn't want to lose himself to it. He needs to save that for his two primary targets.

Belvedere said, "Rabat's ship has departed from the Nirvana, captain."

Magno ordered with a smirk, "Parfet, set the engines to full power. Let's do what pirates are meant to do!" The engines light up and the chase begins.

Parfet watched the Paksis glow brightly, "This is incredible. Over 100 times normal output! I think I'm falling in love!"

Bart grinned inside the helm, "You better watch out because we're coming, buddy!"

Magno said, "You're not getting away. I'm going to strip you of all you got!" Inside his ship, Rabat was sitting in his seat tapping his arm with his left index finger.

Rabat cried, "The Paksis Pragma. There's something very strange about it." Utan got his attention and pointed at the screen showing the Nirvana chasing them and he smirked, "Fools." Suddenly the engine part Rabat gave the crew explodes, shutting the Paksis down which in turn made the engines stop.

Magno grits her teeth as she watched the trader's ship gradually growing fainter until it was only a speck of light.

Kyle popped up on the screen, _"It was not a total loss, captain. Before I destroyed the console, I was able to gain some very intriguing information about the Harvesters. It appears they're making a series of Gleipnir class airborne fortress, each one more deadly than the last."_

Magno narrowed her eyes, "That's not good at all. We barely managed to survive the first one it's probably fully repaired now, waiting for the next chance to strike us."

Kyle nodded, _"Hmm, yes I believe that. I fought against it during the Aurelian War and telling from experience it's truly a nightmarish foe if you are not prepared. I'm considering stealing one of these Gleipnir class airborne fortresses and use it against the Harvesters."_

Magno smirked, "Using the enemy's own weapon against them? That could prove beneficial to us, it'll allow us to stand on better ground against those behemoths. Plus a little humiliation on the side for the Harvesters." Later that day, Hibiki was sitting at the bank of the river in the Nirvana's garden, his head down.

Dita was going to comfort him when Duero placed his hand on her shoulder, telling the redhead, "Sometimes it's best for him to be left alone, Dita." She leaves with the doctor

"Don't worry about it. No matter what that man said it's just non-sense. He was nothing more than con artist!" Meia told Hibiki as she leaned against the railing.

Hibiki replied, "No, he does have a point in the end. If it weren't for Kyle, I would've been seriously hurt. I hate to admit this but I don't have words to call my own, only repeat those I heard. When I do get up on my own stage I wonder what lines will come out of me? Heh, I'm looking forward to that day but at the same time I fear it will turn out being a comedy."

Meia said, "It doesn't matter how silly the lines will be. If they are truly coming from the heart and soul without lies no one will laugh at you or at the very least I won't."

She was about to leave when Hibiki asked her, "Meia, does Kyle think of me as some nuisance?"

Meia looked over her shoulder, "Nuisance?"

Hibiki nodded, "We don't originate from the same planet or time line. He just seems so emotionless I mean we know now why he acts the way he does but am I just annoying to him?"

Meia thought about her answer, "I asked him the same thing after my near-death experience. Kyle said he never hated me as a human being, it was my attitude he hated. To answer your question, no I believe he doesn't hate you. In fact he sees you as the younger brother he never had. Kyle's...very cautious around people after the emotional trauma he went through. He vowed he would protect us along this trip back to our home worlds. Be patient, Hibiki. Kyle will open up to others again. He just needs time." Meia departed the garden after that leaving Hibiki to ponder what she said about the Aurelian pilot.

Kyle lays on his bed staring up at the ceiling in the dark room. If Meia didn't intervene he would have finished Rabat off without regret. In his view, he'd be doing the whole universe a favor. Traitors to mankind don't deserve mercy for they have shown others none. Should Rabat show his ugly face again, he will put the trader out of his misery and Meia won't be able to stop him.

The Aurelian pilot closes his eyes to sleep though he couldn't help but feel that the Harvesters originate from somewhere familiar to him but Kyle had no idea where. He puts those worries aside for the time being.

A/N: Chapter 9 done.

I had a nice Christmas, didn't really ask for much. I got Into the Storm, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Hercules starring Dwayne Johnson, the book Meg: Hell's Aquarium written by Steve Alten. It's the fourth installment in the Meg series with a fifth titled "Meg: Night Stalkers" set to be released at the same time the new Meg movie is released but who knows when that will be. Alten stated that Meg: Night Stalkers is the last installment to the series. Lastly I got some work clothes.

Here we get introduced to Rabat and he orangutan Utan. Later Kyle uncovered what Rabat's job actually was and would have killed him since Kyle isn't the forgiving kind when it comes to traitors of mankind. However, Meia stopped him before he could deliver the killing blow. He promised Rabat that he will finish what he started should the man return. To those of you who don't know, I am taking the anti-hero approach with Kyle since I've never done it before.

Kyle's F-22 combined with Meia's Dread to create a new machine.

Read and Review.

Stay tuned for chapter 10.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Vader 23A


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